Luffy and USS Iowa
by ElderH
Summary: Luffy disappears early in his life but he returns and he has a ship like no other. Luffy is about to turn the world of One Piece upside down with his ship called the Iowa. Luffy will kind of have a harem and he will receive new crew members. Luffy is smart and not dumb. This story is similar to my story USS Iowa and One Piece but changed a bit.
1. Chapter 1: Luffy returns?

CHAPTER 1

"Ace wait up!" A kid yells.

"Hurry up Luffy!" Ace yells.

"Ace!" Luffy yells jumping out of a tree.

*Boom* Thunder cracks with lightning waking Luffy.

"Ace." Luffy says from his bed in his captains quarters. Luffy looks at the picture of him, Ace, and Sabo when they were younger eight years ago. Luffy is now 15 and he is sitting on his bed looking at the picture. He gets up and gets dressed putting his red button up shirt and black tie and black slacks on then he puts his black boots on. Luffy leaves his room and walks up a few flights of stairs. He enters a room.

Captain on the Bridge! A sailor says as they salute him.

"At ease." Luffy says.

"Morning sir." A sailor says.

"Morning Gunther how does radar look?" Luffy asks.

"Radar is good sir. No contacts for the past two hours." Gunther says.

"Good." Luffy comments.

The ship that Luffy is on and captain of is the battleship Iowa which is an Iowa class battleship. Luffy owns the ship since he bought the old war ship. People think he works for the United States Navy but he does not. He is a pirate but not like the pirates today. He is paid to fight these pirates by the shipping companies so they don't lose ships and employees as hostages.

The Iowa is sailing towards the Horn of Africa when they run into a normal storm or at least that is what they think. A lightning bolt strikes the ship making everyone pass out. Luffy comes to 10 minutes later and sees no storm. Everyone else starts coming to and start checking each other over.

"Captain we have a contact on radar. It is 10 miles to the west." Escobar says.

"Okay head for the contact." Luffy orders.

"Yes sir!" Gunther says.

The Iowa starts sailing to the west to the contact on radar.

"Bridge this is CIC we have your contact in sight."CIC says.

"What is it?" Luffy asks.

"It is a ship with sails and has skulls and bones on the sails and flags." CIC says.

"Aim turrets one and two to port and open fire." Luffy orders.

"Yes captain." CIC replies.

The Iowa's two front deck guns turn slightly to port and raise to the proper firing angle and they fire six rounds towards the ship. The crew see the pirate ship explode then sink.

"I know where we are." Luffy says with all looking at him.

"Where sir?" Gunther asks.

"The place that I am from." Luffy says shocking them.

"This is the world that you are from?" Gunther asks.

"Yes this is." Luffy says.

The Iowa sails to an island but drops anchor in a cove so the ship is not seen.

"I will be back Im going to check out the town." Luffy says.

"Mind if I come sir?" Gunther asks.

"Sure you can come." Luffy says.

The two leave the ship using a small boat with a motor and drive it up onto the beach and walk to the village.

They arrive to the village and they walk into a bar called patty's bar but the two did not notice. The two walk in and everyone looks at the two. Luffy and Gunther look around for a minute but before they could take a step Luffy gets tackled. Gunther goes for his gun but stops when he sees that it is a girl with green hair who is crying.

"Luffy is that you?" The girl asks making all go wide-eyed.

"Hi Maki its good to see you again." Luffy says as he and Maki stand.

"Luffy?" A man asks shocked.

"Hi Shanks." Luffy says as Shanks walks up and hugs Luffy.

"We thought you were dead." Maki says.

"Where have you been?" Shanks asks.

"I vanished to another world but I am back." Luffy says.

"Luffy who is this?" Yasopp asks.

"This is one of my crew members." Luffy says.

"My name is Gunther." Gunther says.

"Hey Shanks I have a question for you." Luffy says.

"What is it Luffy?" Shanks asks.

"Can my crew and I sail with you and train under you?" Luffy asks.

"How many are in your crew?" Shanks asks.

"1,500 crew members but I have a ship though." Luffy says surprising everyone at the size of his crew.

"Sure." Shanks says.

Everyone starts to party and Luffy accidently knocks a box over spilling its contents onto the plate of fruit next to Luffy. Luffy closes the box and hands it to Shanks.

"Shanks what's in this?" Luffy asks eating apples or he thinks they are apples.

"This has two Devil Fruits in it." Shanks says. He sees Luffy is kind of chocking.

"Luffy are you okay?" Maki asks.

"Yeah those two apples had bad taste." Luffy says.

"Apples? That plate doesn't have apples only oranges." Maki says. Shanks opens the box and pales.

"Luffy those weren't apples! Those were two Devil Fruits!" Shanks says horrifying everyone including Luffy.

"What?!" Luffy screams.

"You ate two! No one has ever eaten two before!" Shanks says.

"What kind were they?" Luffy asks.

"One was the Mizu no mi and the other was the Yami no mi. The Mizu no mi lets you control water at will and the Yami no mi lets you control the darkness. But since you ate both there is no telling what your weakness is since you could control water but you ate two so who knows what your weakness is or if you even have one because you may be the most powerfulest person ever now." Shanks says.

All see Luffy's hand turn to water than to a black mist which shocks all.

"Well one way to find out." Luffy says as he starts walking for the door and for the docks followed by everyone from the bar to see what happens.


	2. Chapter 2: Training with Shanks

CHAPTER 2

Everyone is at the dock as they watch Luffy take a step off the dock. Shanks starts to run but stops when he sees Luffy walking on the surface of the ocean. This shocks everyone. They see Luffy make a wave big enough to take out the entire town but then lets it lower back into the ocean. They see him lower into the water and walk on the ocean floor and grabs a fish. He surfaces and makes a black mist appear and uses it to make a crew members sword fly to him and he uses it to cut some seaweed then walks off the water onto the beach and everyone is shocked.

"Luffy I believe that you may be the most powerfulest person alive." Shanks says.

"Thanks. Shanks another question. Is this normal?" Luffy asks releasing some haki and some of the crew members pass out and this shocks Shanks.

"No that is the Conquers Spirit. Only one in a million have it." Shanks says.

"Anything else?" Shanks asks.

"Yes there is a group of bandits walking towards the village." Luffy says.

"That is observation haki."Shanks says. Shanks does a test and is shocked that Luffy has all three forms of haki but he can't control them.

"I will help you control your haki but the Devil Fruit you have to learn on your own since I do not have a Devil Fruit power." Shanks says.

"Okay." Luffy says.

"Sir lets go get the ship and tell the rest of the crew." Gunther says.

"Good idea. Shanks we will be back with my ship." Luffy says.

"Okay." Shanks says as the two leave.

"Hey Ben what do you think his ship will look like?" Shanks asks.

"Well if he has a crew of 1,500 it must be a big ship." Ben says.

30 minutes later everyone is shocked to see a huge grey ship covered in guns sailing for the dock with no sails. They see on the front a huge white number. The number 61.

They see Luffy walk off with some others.

"Luffy this is your ship?" Shanks asks.

"Yes this is my ship the battleship Iowa." Luffy says.

Two years later

The Iowa and Shank's ship returns to windmill village.

"Thanks for the two years of training me and my crew." Luffy says.

"It was no problem Luffy." Shanks says.

"Good bye Shanks." Luffy says.

"Good bye Luffy and take good care of my hat and return it when you become king of the pirates." Shanks says.

"Will do!" Luffy says as he boards the Iowa and sets sail.

"What is the plan now captain?" Gunther asks.

"To the Grandline. I'm joining the Revolution army for a year." Luffy says.

"Yes sir! All engines ahead full!" Gunther orders.

"Engines ahead full!" Bronson says.

A year goes by and Luffy returns to East Blue to start being a pirate. Luffy finds a deserted island to use as a base in the east blue to hide the Iowa. He tells the crew he will be in touch since he is taking a long range radio with him since he wants to sail by himself and make a crew to which the crew doesnt mind. He buys a dinghy and starts on his new adventure as a pirate on his own. He sails for a day and sees a whirlpool. He hops in a barrel as his boat is sucked in. He hears a hook hook the barrel and is pulled onto a boat.

"Pirates!" The lookout yells as the pirate ship fires and three splashes of water surround the passenger ship.

The sudden splashes of water rock the ship and the barrel goes rolling and rolls down the stairs into the kitchen.

"H-Hello?" A pink haired kid calls entering the kitchen.

"No one is here. Whew. Now what is there that I can steal?" The kid says. He spots the barrel and walks to it and is surprised at its weight.

"Wow it is heavy and judging from the sloshing it is filled with booze. Alvida will be happy with me for a change." The kid thinks till three pirates walk in.

"Coby you little coward! Hiding again eh?" One asks.

"No! I found this barrel of booze for captain Alvida." Coby says.

"Here let us have some." A second says.

"What Alvida will kill us." Coby says.

"She won't if you keep your trap shut." The third says making Coby back away in fear.

"What was that?" Coby thinks after hearing a noise. The first pirate pulls the lid off and is a little sour.

"Water?! Where is the damn booze?" He yells.

"That's too bad that you did not get what you wanted. Sorry." They all hear. They all look around then at the barrel and are shocked to see a face staring up at them. They see the water start to take a form which scares all four to see it form into a person.

"Hello who are you guys?" The person asks.

"That's our line!" The three say now mad at seeing the young man in front of them.

"Hey kid do you know where some food is?" The Youngman asks startling Coby.

"Hey don't ignore us!" The three say with swords drawn. The young man continues to ignore them.

"That's it get him!" The second says. All three leap to cut the guy to pieces. Coby looks away. He doesn't hear metal meeting flesh but metal meeting...wood? Coby opens his eyes to see three sword tips in the ceiling and the wall with the three scared shitless.

"W-Who are you?" One of them asks.

"I am Monkey D. Luffy a pirate!" Luffy says. The three run away like the wind. Coby just stares.

"What is your name?" Luffy asks startling Coby.

"Ah! Please don't hurt me!" Coby says putting his hands up.

"Why would I do that? You didn't fight me." Luffy says.


	3. Chapter 3: Meeting Zoro

CHAPTER 3

"Oh. My name is Coby." Coby says.

"Coby? You don't look much like a pirate." Luffy says.

"No choice." Coby says looking down at the floor.

"Care to enlighten me?" Luffy asks.

"It happened two years ago. I was going to go fishing but I got on the wrong boat and so now I am Alvida's personal cabin boy." Coby says.

"Ha! Ha! So you are basically a little weakling?" Luffy says making Coby more depressed.

"Glad you think it's funny." Coby says depressed. Luffy hits him in the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Coby asks rubbing his head.

"You were being all depressive and it bothered me." Luffy says.

"What do I care. I always get beat up." Coby says.

"Have you tried to escape?" Luffy asks.

"I can't do that! No! No! Of course I have thought about it, but I can't or Alvida would kill me." Coby says.

"Better to die trying than remaining as a cabin boy. Coby do you have a dream?" Luffy asks.

"Of course! I want to be a marine and catch bad people. Luffy do you have a dream?" Coby asks.

"Yes I do. My dream is to become the King of the Pirates. It has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid." Luffy says with Coby's jaw on the ground.

"You want to be the pirate king? Don't you know you could die! And why do you want to be as bad as someone as that?" Coby asks to receive fist to his head.

"Ow! That hurts!" Coby says.

"Coby it is my dream. I know that I could die but at least I died chasing my dream and died accomplishing some things. And about me being bad? That is up to you to decide if I am good or bad." Luffy says making Coby shut up and think about what Luffy said.

"Hey Luffy do you think I could be a marine?" Coby asks.

"If you follow your heart I believe you can be a great marine, but you can't if you can't escape from Alvida." Luffy says. There is a moment of silence between the two.

"Well lets get going before the marines arrive." Luffy says standing and walking for the door.

"Luffy I can't join if the marines come here." Coby says.

"Well then come with me and I will help you pursue your dream." Luffy says.

"Really?" Coby asks.

"Yes so lets go." Luffy says walking for the stairs.

"Okay, but we have to watch out for Alvida." Coby says.

"Why?" Luffy asks.

"She uses an iron mace and is pretty deadly with it and the fact that she looks like a cow." Coby says as they walk outside.

"COBY! Who is a cow?" Alvida asks horrifying Coby.

"Uh, uh, uh." Coby thinks.

"Coby who is the whale?" Luffy asks. All pale and Alvida has tick marks appearing on her head.

"What did you say brat?" Alvida asks.

"I said who is the whale?" Luffy says making more tick marks appear in her head.

"Coby who is the most beautifulest person on the seas?" Alvida asks but she clearly is far from beautiful.

Coby start to panic but says his answer.

"Not you! You fat ugly sea cow!" Coby says. This makes Alvida even more pissed.

"Ha! Ha! That's funny, well said Coby!" Luffy says laughing.

Alvida is pissed and tries to hit Luffy and Coby. Luffy pushes Coby out of the way and Alvida's crew starts chasing him. They all charge with swords drawn but he easily dodges. He dodges with his eyes closed and this infuriates the pirates more. One pulls out a gun and shoots at Luffy. This shocks Coby. They see it hit Luffy but he does not bleed, this shocks them and they see the bullet floating around in Luffy. This scares them. He stretches his hand and a black mist appears in front of him.

"Dark magnet!" Luffy says. Two pirates suddenly fly to Luffy and disappear in the mist then reappear a minute later with broken bones and unconscious. They all see a scythe appear out of the mist and this horrifies them and Alvida to see.

"What are you?" Her crew asks.

"I am Monkey D. Luffy a water and darkness man." Luffy says.

"You ate a Devil Fruit didn't you?" Alvida asks calm but on the inside she is terrified to see Luffy and especially what he says next.

"Yes. But I ate two Devil Fruits." Luffy says shocking her.

"So they are real and how are you alive?" She asks.

"I am just as surprised as you when I didn't die from eating two." Luffy says.

"I don't think I can win against this kid." Alvida thinks.

"Well its time for you to die!" Alvida says trying to fight.

Luffy vanishes to only reappear right in front of her.

"Hydro pistol!" Luffy says as his fist turns to water and meets her fat and sends her flying over the ocean.

"Captain! Alvida!" The crew yells and they now look at Luffy with fear clearly written on their faces.

"Now then." Luffy says scaring them to where they start to run away from him.

"Hold it." Luffy says calm which makes them all freeze because of his tone.

"There is something I need from you all." Luffy says.

"Which is what?" A pirate asks.

"A boat for Coby since he will be joining the marines." Luffy says.

"H-Hai!" The crew replies as they work on getting a boat for Coby, but it won't be needed.


	4. Chapter 4: Meeting Zoro part 2

Sorry that it has been a while but i am tryin for chapter a week. So without furher adu here is chapter 4.

'Thought'

"Speech"

CHAPTER 4

Luffy senses a boat below them with a person on it using his observation haki. They all hear whistling then three large splashes of water appear.

"Marines!" The pirates say. Luffy and Coby look to see three Marine battleships.

Time to go. Luffy says as he grabs Coby and jumps over the railing and lands in the boat with a girl and startles her. She looks into his red eyes and she does not notice the cannon ball coming straight for her. Luffy felt it coming before it was even fired, he moves like a blur and summons his scythe. He cuts the cannon ball in half and sends one half to one ship igniting it on fire and destroying the other two with the other half of the cannon ball.

"Firing at an unarmed girl that is just wrong." Luffy says with his back to the girl. She starts to blush for being saved by this young man and she feels the boat is suddenly moving and she does not know that it is Luffy doing it by controlling the ocean with his devil fruit ability.

"Thanks." She says.

"Your welcome. Is it alright if we sail with you to Shells town?" Luffy asks.

"Sure I don't care I am heading to Shells town as well." The girl says.

"Thanks. My name is Luffy, what's yours?" Luffy asks.

"My name is Nami and I have never seen someone use a scythe to fight before." Nami says.

"Hi I am Coby." Coby says.

"Hello." Nami says.

The trio sails for five minutes and Nami and Coby still haven't noticed that the sail is not down since they are using the current Luffy is making pushing them to Shells town.

The next day the trio arrives at Shells town

"Well I guess this is where we go different ways." Luffy says.

"Yeah, well I guess I will see you later somewhere down the road." Nami says.

"Bye Nami take care and hopefully we cross paths again." Luffy says making her blush. Nami had to turn around to hide her blush and Luffy and Coby walk away up the main street.

"So why did you want to come to Shells town?" Coby asks.

"Well there is a marine base here and there is a man that I am looking for who should be here." Luffy says.

"Really who?" Coby asks.

"Roanoa Zoro." Luffy says scaring all the patrons and sellers that are in the street as well as Coby.

"What? Are you insane? He would kill you." Coby says.

"Coby remember what I said two days ago?" Luffy asks making Coby stop and think and remember Luffy's words.

"Well I guess I can't persuade you away from this then. I hear that the base here is run by Morgan." Coby says. The townspeople do the same reaction that Luffy got a few minutes ago.

"Why would they fear a marine captain?" Coby asks.

"Coby just because that there are bad pirates does not mean that there are corrupt marines as well." Luffy says making Coby think about what he said.

The duo continues walking towards the base.

"Luffy they aren't going to keep him out in the open." Coby says.

"Well who is that then?" Luffy asks smirking pointing at a person tied up in the yard.

"Ah! It's Zoro!" Coby says. As he starts spurting things about Zoro a ladder plops right next to Coby surprising him and Luffy. The two see a little girl climb up and put a finger to her lips and she slides down a rope and starts running towards Zoro.

"Ah! Luffy do something!" Coby says panicking.

"No I want to see what happens." Luffy says never taking his eyes off the little girl.

"What?! Luffy you have to do someting or she will get hurt!" Coby says as he panics.

The little girl gets to Zoro

"What do you want brat? I thought I told you to leave me alone." Zoro says.

"I thought you might be hungry." Rika says.

"I'm not now beat it!" Zoro says.

"Now, now, now we won't be having any of that now. Being mean to children is a crime in of itself." Helmeppo says walking up with his personal group of marines.

"Tch! Bastard." Zoro grumbles.

"Little girl you know the rules. Those seen helping criminals are to be executed." Helmeppo says all snobbish. The little girl pales and goes wide-eyed.

"You!" Helmeppo says to a marine.

"Sir?" The marine stands at attention.

"Throw her over the wall!" Helmeppo says.

"What? But sir she is only a child!" The marine says shocked.

"Are you not following my orders? I'll report you to my father." Helmeppo threatens leaving the marine with no choice. He walks up to rika and picks her up and walks for the wall. Rika has started to cry.

"Tuck into a ball and it won't hurt as much." The marine says before he throws her over the wall. Rika screams as she flies over the wall. Luffy uses his Mizu no mi and catches her and he slides on the ground holding the girl who is still crying.

"Are you guys okay?" Coby asks.

"Yeah I am." Rika says between sobs.

"Coby take her back to her mother. I'm going to talk to Zoro." Luffy says.

"Okay. Be careful." Coby says as he and Rika walk away. Luffy makes sure they are gone then he disappears in a cloud of mist and appears right in front of Zoro.

"Hello Roanoa Zoro. I have an offer for you." Luffy says.

"Oh really?" Zoro asks.

"Yes. How would you like to travel the Grandline with me and become one of the greatest?" Luffy asks noticing Zoro perks at that.

"The greatest huh? What is your offer?" Zoro asks.

"How would you like to join my pirate crew and sail the Grandline?" Luffy asks.

"I might if I don't change my mind within ten days." Zoro says.

"Ten days?" Luffy asks.

"That's how long I have to remain tied up for. After ten days if I haven't changed my mind I will join you." Zoro says.

"Alright, but you do know that stuck up bastard will go back on his word." Luffy says and only gets silence.

"Well see you later. But you will joining my crew Roana Zoro." Luffy says turning around to leave.

"Wait!" Zoro says making Luffy stop and look at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Can you put that rice ball in my mouth please?" Zoro asks.

"It's more of a dirt ball than a rice ball but whatever." Luffy says putting it into Zoro's mouth. He eats it all.

"Can you tell that little girl it was good." Zoro says.

"Sure I will." Luffy says leaving in a blur surprising Zoro.

'What th hell?' Zoro thinks at what he just saw.

Luffy appears in an alley next to the restaurant that Rika's mother owns. He walks in and sees Coby with Rika and her mother. He notices Nami out of the corner of his eye. He waves and she notices and waves back. Luffy walks over to Coby and Rika.

"Really he said that?" Rika asks.

"Yep and he ate every grain of rice. I was shocked that he wanted it but he was grateful in eating it." Luffy says to Rika.

"So why was Zoro arrested?" Coby asks Ririka, Rika's mother and she gets a little nervous.

"It's because of me." Rika says.


	5. Chapter 5: Zoro joining Luffy

CHAPTER 5

"What do you mean?" Luffy asks.

"It is what Helmeppo did." Ririka says.

"What did he do?" Coby asks.

"He terrorizes the town just like his father. He let his wolf dog run around town terrorizing everyone. It saw my daughter and was about to attack her but Zoro killed it before it could attack Rika." Ririka says. They did not notice that Nami had been listening in and was a little surprised by Zoro's actions but she is brought out of her surprise by a loud commotion. They all turn around to see Helmepo walk in.

"Hey get me some food or I will tell my father!" Helmeppo says making Luffy clench his fists.

Ririka moves out of fear of Morgan. She comes back with some food.

"Boy I am in a good mood. Tomorrow I will have Zoro executed." Helmeppo says making Luffy's blood boil and his hat is covering his eyes.

"I thought you said you would release him in ten days?" Coby says.

"Ha! I lied!" Helmeppo says. The next thing and anyone else knows is is that he flies into the wall. All look to Luffy with his fist still out stretched from punching Helmepo.

"You'll pay for that! Wait till my fa-" Helmeppo starts but suddenly passes out foaming at the mouth. Everyone inside and outside felt the temperature drop at least 50° and everyone shudders since it feels like death in the air.

"Get him out of here." Luffy says in a very dark menacing voice to the Marines who waste no time in grabbing Helmepo and high-tailing it to the base.

Luffy is back at the base and is walking up to Zoro.

"I thought I told you to go away. I have ten- Youre being executed tomorrow!" Luffy says cutting Zoro off.

"What?!" Zoro asks.

"Helmeppo went hack on his word." Luffy says.

"Well captain what now?" Zoro asks.

"I untie you, we grab your things then leave." Luffy says.

"Okay." Zoro says.

Luffy starts to untie Zoro but has a hard time.

"What the hell kind of rope is this?" Luffy asks.

"Go find my swords!" Zoro says.

"Alright!" Luffy says vanishes right in front of Zoro.

"What the hell?" Zoro asks with dinner plate sized eyes.

Luffy is running around the base looking for Zoro's swords. He comes across a door with a sign saying "My Room".

'Please tell me that this isn't an actual room?' Luffy thinks. Luffy walks into the room to see what it is.

"It's about time you-Ah! You?" Helmeppo screams.

"Oye not so loud you annoying bastard." Luffy says hitting Helmeppo.

"What do you want?" Helmeppo asks.

"I am looking for Zoro's swords. Now where are they?" Luffy threatens.

"O-Over there!" Helmeppo says pointing at the corner to three swords.

"Which one is his?" Luffy asks.

"All three are his." Helmeppo says.

"Ah." Luffy says. He stretches his hand and a black mist flows to his hand to the katanas and they disappear in the mist which returns to Luffy then he vanishes.

"Ahh! I have to warn my father!" Helmeppo screams and runs to his father but trips and falls down the stairs knocking himself unconscious.

"What are you doing here kid?" Zoro asks.

"Helping you. I can't believe these marines are so corrupt." Coby says.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Morgan says scaring Coby.

"Shit. So close." Zoro curses.

"Well it was funny watching you starve Roanoa. Now you die. Men fire!" Morgan orders. The Marines fire and Luffy appears with his back to Zoro and Coby.

"Luffy!" Coby cries.

"Hey Zoro I have your katanas." Luffy says turning around and stretching his hand and three katanas appear from black mist. This shocks Coby and Zoro and as well as the Marines.

"Why didn't our bullets do anything?" A marine asks.

"If you're wondering about your bullets here they are." Luffy says turning around facing the marines.

"Yami Gatling gun." Luffy says as black mist appears and it looks like a .50 caliber machine gun and it starts firing hitting their guns and cuts Morgan's cheek.

"Ahh!" The marines scream.

"Youre not normal straw hat. Did you eat a Devil Fruit?" Morgan asks.

"Yes I did but I ate two." Luffy says and Morgan's eyes slightly widen at the answer.

"Devil Fruits? Their real?" The marines say.

"Well if guns won't work then we use swords!" Morgan says. The marines leap to Luffy and start cutting him shocking Coby and Zoro. But the marines take a look of horror to see Luffy still standing.

"That would have killed me if I did not eat two Devil Fruits that let blades pass right through me as well as bullets." Luffy says shocking them. Luffy stretches his hand and all the weapons of the marines disappear in black mist like a magnet.

"Where did our weapons go?" A marine asks.

"Here." Luffy says stretching his hand returning their weapons all broke and bent.

"What?!" The marines yell.

"Straw hat!" Morgan yells and charges Luffy. Zoro gets free and grabs his katanas.

"Zoro he's mine." Luffy says.

"Luffy watch out!" Coby screams as Morgan brings his axe hand down on Luffy but it goes right through Luffy.

"Ha Ha! H-what?!" Morgan yells seeing Luffy still in one piece.

"It takes more than a gun and sword to defeat me." Luffy says. Luffy stretches his hand and a scythe appears horrifying the marines because they now know who Luffy is. Luffy charges Morgan and cuts his axe hand off and blood sprays everywhere.

"Ahhh!" Morgan screams in pain. Luffy runs up and punches Morgan in the gut and Morgan goes quiet then he drops to the ground unconscious.

Luffy, Zoro, and Coby look at the marines.

"Hurray! We are free!" The marines cheer.

"What's going on?" Coby asks.

"Morgan was after power so now since he has been defeated they are happy." Luffy says.

"Well Zoro lets get you something to eat." Luffy says.

"Sounds like a plan captain." Zoro says.

The trio are at Ririka's restaurant feeding Zoro. Luffy sees Nami is still there. He waves and she waves back. Five minutes later the marines walk in.

"Excuse me are you two pirates? And are you the Reaper?" The marine asks.

"Yes. That was quick for you to figure out." Luffy replies.

"Well we thank for stopping Morgan but we won't report you if you leave." The marine says with the townspeople yelling at the marines.

"Alright but I need a boat. I lost mine to a whirlpool." Luffy says.

"Alright we can arrange a boat for you." The marine says.

"Well lets go Zoro." Luffy says.

"Lead the way." Zoro says following.

"What about him?" The marine asks pointing at Coby.

"Don't know him. I found him this morning on drift wood. But he does want to join the marines it's his dream. If Vice-Admiral Garp comes put him on his ship and give him this letter." Luffy says handing the marine a letter.

"Alright." The marine says.

Luffy and Zoro walk to the harbor to see a medium sized boat with a cabin with hammocks and a kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6: Luffy meets Nami

Hello everyone. Here is chapter 6 of Luffy and USS Iowa.

Disclaimer: I do not kwn One Piece.

CHAPTER 6

Luffy and Zoro Leave shells town and look to see Coby as Well as the marines saluting them.

"That's something you don't see every day." Luffy says.

The two sail for a day and arrive at Orange town. They are walking around when Luffy runs into an orange haired girl and they both fall to the ground with the girl on top of Luffy.

"Well what do we have here?" Zoro asks chuckling.

"H-Hi again Nami." Luffy says as their faces are inches from each other.

"Hi L-Luffy." Nami says. She hurries and gets off Luffy.

"There she is!" Three pirates yell running up to the three.

"Give us back our map you thief!" One says.

"You three better leave before you get hurt." Luffy threatens.

"If anyone is going to get hurt it is you." A pirate says.

Luffy stretches his hand and summons his scythe which shocks Nami but scares the three pirates. Luffy twirls it a bit in his hands and slams the but on the ground making a small crater with a four foot radius and this scares the three off. Luffy returns his scythe to its spot till summoned.

"Thanks." Nami says.

"That is twice now Nami." Luffy says chuckling.

"Twice?' Nami asks.

"Yep that is twice I have had to save you." Luffy says surprising Nami.

"Well then Luffy thanks. Are you guys hungry?" Nami asks.

"Yes." Luffy says.

"Follow me." Nami says. The two follow Nami and Zoro gets lost and Nami tells Luffy about Orange town and about how Buggy has ruined parts of the town. Luffy notices how much she doesn't like the word pirate. He uses his observation haki to read her feelings.

"I know how you feel to lose someone close to you." Luffy says surprising her.

"That is one reason why I am a pirate to find a certain person who killed someone who was close to me when I was younger." Luffy says in a sadden tone shocking Nami.

"Hey Nami I have a question for you." Luffy says in a solemn tone.

"What is it Luffy?" Nami asks.

"Would you like to join my pirate crew? And I can help you with your mission that you have been doing for your village." Luffy says shocking her that he knows.

"H-How do you know?"

"I can read your emotions and feelings. I will be more than happy to help you free your village." Luffy says.

"I can't let you."

"Let me do it as your friend."

"I can't Luffy."

"Alright. I am still going to pursue my task of dealing with Arlong whether you want me to or not." Luffy says shocking her that he still is going after Arlong.

"I guess there is no stopping you then?"

"No."

"Well I guess you can help me. I need to steal Buggy's treasure."

"Okay. Here you go." Luffy says handing her rope.

"What's this for?" She asks.

"You tie me up and take me to Buggy saying you are fed up with me being your boss and that you want to join Buggy's crew so that you can steal their treasure." He says handing her rope shocking her.

"That might actually work." She says.

Buggy's base

"What you lost her?!" Buggy screams.

"It's not our fault there was this guy in a button up shirt and tie and black pants who summoned a scythe and made a three foot crater with the butt of the scythe." One pirate says.

"Did you say he summoned a scythe? Was he wearing a straw hat?" Buggy asks pale.

"Yes captain." The three say.

'What is the Reaper doing here?' Buggy thinks going into his circus tent.

"Captain!" A pirate yells.

"What?!" Buggy yells.

"The girl who stole the map is here." The pirate says.

"Oh ok-What?!" Buggy asks shocked.

Nami walks up leading Luffy. She pushes him and he falls onto the ground.

"Here is your map back captain Buggy." Nami says.

"Thanks but why the change girl?" Buggy asks.

"I got fed up with my boss." Nami says.

"What is your name girl?" Buggy asks.

"Nami captain Buggy." Nami says.

"Kyahh! Kyahh! Lets have a toast to Nami joining us. Lets have a look at your boss's face." Buggy says lifting Luffy's head. Buggy looks and he is soon standing 10 feet away from Luffy sweating and pale and horrified that it is the Reaper.

"Captain what's wrong?" The crew asks shocked that Buggy has horror written all over his face this shocks Nami but Luffy is laughing on the inside.

"Put him in a damn cage and tie him to more rope!" Buggy orders.

"Yes captain." The crew says and ties Luffy up in more rope and puts him in a cage. Nami is a little worried how Luffy is feeling.

"Boys bring out the Buggy bombs!" Buggy says still pale.

"Yes captain." Some pirates say and appear with a cannon and a cannon ball with the Buggy pirates Jolly Roger on it.

The cannon is pointed at Luffy and Nami is scared about the cituation in front of her.

"Here you go Nami to prove yourself of joining fire this cannon at your old boss." Buggy says horrifying her. She stands there with a box of matches in her hands.

"Go ahead Nami fire it." Luffy says shocking her.

"I-I can't." Nami says.

"Nami do it. Remember your village's life is resting on your shoulders. Light the cannon." Luffy says. Nami goes wide-eyed at what he says. She pulls a match out and strikes it and lites the fuse. Nami steps back and she sees Zoro appear and he starts to run for the cannon but he is to late. The cannon goes off destroying the 30 houses that were behind Luffy and Nami drops to her knees.

"Luffy." Nami says dropping to her knees with tears in her eyes.

"Kyahh! Kyahh!"'The Reaper is dead.' Buggy laughs.

*Cough* *Cough* "Wow that sucker has quite the punch." A voice says. Buggy stops laughing and pales same with Nami thinking she is hearing a ghost. They all look to see Luffy stand and brush his clothes off.

"L-Luffy?" Nami asks as there are tears still running down her cheeks.

'How did he survive? He must be a Devil to survive that.' Buggy thinks horrified to see Luffy standing and walking up to them. He walks up to Nami and helps her to her feet.

Buggy uses this chance to attack but Zoro cuts him to pieces.

"What a weakling." Zoro says. Luffy walks over to Buggy with his sword drawn that no one saw him summon. He whispers to Buggy.

"Ha! Nice try in fooling me Buggy I know about your Devil Fruit ability to separate to pieces." Luffy says as he drives his sword through Buggy's hand.

"Ahh!" Buggy screams shocking Nami and Zoro as he floats still in pieces and his hand still on the ground with Luffy's sword in his hand.

"Nami go get their treasure." Luffy says since she was close to him.

"Okay." She says and sneaks onto the ship to look for their treasure.

"My hand! Give me my hand back you brat!" Buggy yells in pain and seeing his blood come out. Luffy pushes harder and his sword digs deeper making the hole in Buggy's hand be bigger. Luffy pulls his sword out of Buggy's hand.

"You brat you'll pay for that." Buggy says pissed.

"We'll see about that clown." Luffy says summoning his scythe making Buggy horrified and pale.

'It is the Reaper! He is going to kill me!' Buggy cries scared of Luffy.

Luffy fights Buggy and at the last second he summons his sword and stabs Buggy shocking his crew and Zoro and Nami who just walked out with a bag of treasure.

Buggy is hunched over with a four foot blade sticking out his back covered in blood.

"Next time I hear you are terrorizing a village like what you did to Orange town I will not hesitate to come look and kill you." Luffy whispers in Buggy's ear.

"You have my word Reaper I won't do this again." Buggy says back. Luffy pulls his sword out of Buggy and Buggy drops to the ground and Buggy's blood drips off Luffy's sword.

"Nami, Zoro lets go. We are leaving." Luffy says walking away twirling his sword getting the blood off before resheathing it and heading towards the harbor. Nami and Zoro run to catch up to Luffy. The three leave and head for the next island that has a certain long nosed sniper living on it.

I am open to reviews.

Chapter 7 post 08/25/14


	7. Chapter 7: Meeting Usopp

CHAPTER 7

Two days later the trio arrives to the island with Syrup village on it. The trio gets off the two boats they have and walk onto the beach. They don't get fat before something flies at Luffy who dodges with ease.

"Halt you pirates! If you want to get any farther you have to go through me and my 800 million."A voice says.

"Who are you?" Nami asks.

"I am captain Usopp of the Usopp pirates." Usopp says.

"Do you really want to fight?" Luffy asks with his hat shadowing his eyes and his hand is resting on his Nodachi.

"Uh..." Usopp gulps.

"Seeing how you have drawn your pistol and it is not a toy are you willing to fight for your life?" Luffy asks.

"He is a real pirate and he means what he says." Zoro says.

"I-I can't. Do your worse." Usopp says dropping to his knees.

"Usopp be proud for standing up to me a pirate." Luffy says surprising Usopp.

"How do you know my name?" Usopp asks.

"I know who you are because the first crew I served in was the one that your father served in for red haired Shanks. I believe your old man's name is Yasopp correct?" Luffy asks. Next thing anyone knows is that Usopp is standing in front of

Luffy bombarding him questions about his dad.

"Usopp how bout showing us your village and we can talk over lunch because we are hungry." Luffy says.

"Okay. Follow me." Usopp says.

An hour after the four finish eating Usopp shows them around the village. They are walking by a mansion when they hear Usopp's name is called.

"Hi Kaya!"Usopp says.

"Usopp who are these three?" Kaya asks.

"Some people visiting the island and one knows my dad." Usopp says.

"Really? Which one?" Kaya asks excitedly.

"That would be me Miss Kaya." Luffy says stepping forward.

"You know Usopp's father?" Kaya asks.

"Yes I was in the crew that Usopp's father is in and he is a really good sharpshooter." Luffy says.

"Wow." Kaya says.

"Miss Kaya I have a question." Luffy says.

"What is it?" Kaya asks.

"Would you happen to know where we can buy a ship?" Luffy asks.

"Yes I do I can se-Who is there and what's going on here?" A voice says cutting Kaya off.

"Kulador. I was abo- Not now Miss Kaya we can talk later. Now all of you need to leave. Especially you Usopp I bet you were putting more lies in Miss Kaya's head." Kulador says.

"Kulador! Usopp was just walking by showing these three around. One of them knows his father." Kaya says.

"Miss Kaya that is what he wants you to think. He is nothing but the son of a low life pirate." Kulador says making Usopp and Luffy mad but Luffy is controlling his temper but Nami and Zoro notice.

"Shut up about my dad!" Usopp says.

"Why? He left you to be a worthless pirate." Kulador says. This makes Usopp mad but what shocks everyone is that Luffy snapped and had summoned his scythe and has it Kulador throat.

"Say one more bad thing about Yasopp and I won't hesitate to kill you right here. He is a better man than you captain Kuro." Luffy says saying the last part as a whisper for Kuro to hear and goes wide-eyed. Luffy uses his scythe and cuts Kuro on

the cheek and his scythe disappears shocking Kuro.

"Come on guys lets go." Usopp says.

The four are at a cliff looking over the dark ocean. Usopp, Nami, and Zoro watch as Luffy controls the ocean calming down by making it split a little ways or making waves that are 100 feet tall.

"Alright guys I believe we have a cituation and my presence has made it worse." Luffy says after calming down.

"What do you mean?" Nami asks.

"Are many of you familiar with the name Kuro of a thousand plans?" Luffy asks.

"Yes." Nami says.

"But Luffy didn't he die three years ago?" Nami asks.

"Supposedly he did." Luffy says.

"Luffy are you sure?" Usopp asks. Luffy searches his pocket and pulls out a wanted poster of Kuro.

"This is Kryo's wanted poster from three years ago." Luffy says shocking Usopp who starts to shake.

"Now with me being here he will change his plans. Scratch that, that is exactly what he is doing." Luffy says pointing at the beach. The others look to see Kuro and another person. The four duck and listen.

"Captain Kuro you want to do what?!" The man asks.

"Django! I have told you not to call me that remember."Kuro says.

"Sorry." Jango says.

"So why do you want to do it tomorrow?" Django asks.

"Because there is a pirate who is here that is a threat to my plans. The revolutionist from three years ago is here on this island."Kuro says making Django gasp.

"What? Are you sure?" Django asks.

"Yes. I am so you need to attack the village tomorrow." Kuro says as the two start walking away. When the coast is clear the four stand out of the bushes.

"Oh my heck I have to warn the town." Usopp says starting to turn but Luffy grabs him.

"Luffy let me go I have to warn everyone." Usopp says.

"Usopp listen no one will believe you. You need to leave this to me and all of you need to do as I say." Luffy says.

"Alright." The three say.

"Okay Luffy I trust you. What are we going to do?" Usopp asks.

"I will be back. I am going for a little walk to think." Luffy says walking away.

"You. What are you doing on the estate? I'll have you thrown off." Klahadore said without turning around. Luffy walked up behind him.

"was my act so good that you could not see through it? I'm impressed with myself." Kuro arched an eyebrow at hearing he was acting before. "tell me, Klahadore. Are you a gambling man?"

"no. now why are you on miss Kaya's estate?"

"really. Because I would've thought you'd be fond of a game of chance. Of how no matter how many plans you lay, they could all go astray with that fickle mistress we call luck." Kuro was silent. "You miss it, don't you?" Klahadore turned around

to face him, mild curiosity on his face. "You miss the thrill of the hunt, the chance to piss off the marines at any given time." Klahadore stiffened. "No matter how many times you say that you've become a pacifist; you'll always miss the chance

to roam the seas, captain Kuro."

"You know my secret." Klahadore pushed up his glasses. "What do you plan to do with it?"

Luffy walked away a few steps, before stopping. "I have a wager, for you."

"Oh?"

"I know what you are planning for Miss Kaya. Frankly, I can't allow that. She's going to be the one to provide a ship to the grand line." Kuro gestured to Luffy, telling him to get on with it. "The infamous Kuro of the thousand plans would be an

excellent addition to the crew that finds One Piece."

Kuro's interest was piqued. "Interesting. You wish for me to join your crew. Go on."

"I realize that you are still in control, more or less, of your old crew. I realize that, I can't have you, because you're already a captain. And then, I thought: what if I could have both?" Luffy turned to Kuro, a twinkle in his eye. "The wager: who can

protect or kill Miss Kaya."

"And the stake?" Kuro grinned, the ideas getting his adrenaline pumping.

"The loser swears his pirate crew and himself to the winner." Kuro grinned even wider, the sun glinting off his circular glasses. He pushed them up with oh-so-slightly jittery hands.

"An interesting wager. And yet, I am excited. I feel more excited than I have in years."

"Then you accept?"

"Yes. I accept your bet. The rules?"

"We cannot kill any of our own crew. That is to make sure that if it looks like one of us is losing, we can't kill the crew and ourselves to stop the winner from getting anything."

Kuro nodded. "Understandable. Anything else?"

"Yes. You can do any kind of trap to ensure your victory." Kuro nodded. "And you cannot kill or attempt to kill anybody before the bet begins." Kuro nodded again. "The wager begins tomorrow at dawn. You can't do anything before that."

"Excellent. The battle begins." The two shook hands and the deal was struck.

"you look oddly happy, captain." Django told the captain as he climbed aboard the ship of the Black Cat pirates. "is there any particular reason you want to go aboard the ship? We've already met, and it's not like you to alter the plan…" Kuro pushed his glasses up his nose and grinned slightly.  
"Django… there has been a complication in the plans." Django, startled at the way he said it, flinched back. "one that I wish to announce to the whole crew." Kuro grinned. "Django, this complication has reminded me of who I am. While I was in that house for three years, I thought myself a pacifist. But now, I know who I am." He pushed his glasses up his nose again. "I am a pirate. I enjoy the thrill of pillaging and plundering and being able to aggravate the pitiful marines that follow me. I am the infamous Kuro of the thousand plans, whose sixty-million beri bounty terrorized the east blue. I am not a pitiful butler who plays nanny to an infirm girl just to get her money." He pushed up his glasses. "as of this moment, Kuro of the thousand plans is now once again the captain of the black cat pirates."  
"this must be some complication." Django finished mooring themselves to the boat. "Oy! You bloodthirsty scalawags! Give us a lift!" a ladder rolled down from above. Django gestured at the boat. "after you, captain." Kuro swiftly scaled the ladder. At once, thee muttering on the ship ceased. Kuro pushed his glasses up.  
"Black Cat pirates!" he bellowed, spreading his arms wide. "you all know of the plan to 'accident' miss Kaya tomorrow. However, I feel that you may have grown soft in my absence!" Butchie and Siam twitched, but said nothing."so, I have decided to throw in a complication!" "a man in the village knows my secret." The crew immediately started muttering. "I do not know how he knows it, nor where he learned it from. He is a pirate, named Monkey D. Luffy. he has offered me a wager, and I have accepted."  
"a wager, captain?" Django asked the unspoken question in the heads of the crew. Kuro pushed up his glasses.  
"yes, a wager. He has put forth the wager that he can stop me from 'accidenting' miss Kaya. The terms say that the loser forswears his crew to the winner." The crew exploded in anger at being gambled. "quiet! The boy is exceptionally powerful. I know this from merely looking at him. if we lose, then we fly under the flag of one of the most powerful pirates I have seen in many years. And if they lose…" he pushed up his glasses. "then we gain him on our crew. Either way, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Or, are you afraid of losing to one man?" the Black Cat pirates roared. "Tomorrow! The bet begins at dawn! Do not lose, my pirate scum!" they roared in bloodlust as they started chanting. Django took him aside.  
"do you think that is wise, captain? We know nothing about this Monkey D. Luffy. what if we lose?"  
""we cannot lose. Not even if we are unable to fight and they have beaten us all fairly, we cannot lose. It is not possible for us to lose." Django looked into the eyes of his captain, and saw the man he had served under three years ago. Kuro of the thousand plans was back in action. Django grinned.  
"aye aye, captain! I'll get these slop-bellied bums into shape!" he whirled around and started bellowing to the crew. "alright, you bloodthirsty dogs! What are we after!"  
"TREASURE!"  
"what are we after!"  
"BLOOD AND TREASURE!" the Black Cat pirates howled to the moon in raucous ecstasy. Kuro grinned a homicidal grin and looked at the gleaming crescent moon.  
"and so it begins… Monkey D. Luffy…"

"don't you think you're putting it on the wrong hill?" Luffy stared at Usopp trying to oil slick the hill. "Do you think that Kuro and his pirates would honestly use the same hill that they had their meeting on?" Usopp stood up suddenly, the oil sloshing back into the bucket.  
"Shut up! You're the one who wouldn't let me tell the villagers when we heard their conversation! You won't let me tell them that their lives are in danger!" Luffy grabbed his shirt and yanked him in.  
"There are always people's lives in danger, or there's always a pirate invasion looming in the distance, or there's always a corrupt official causing mayhem and destruction for power that threatens everybody in the east blue! And the only way that they can get on with their happy lives is that they Do…Not… Know about it! Think for a moment! Why would the villagers believe the town's biggest liar, who says that there are pirates coming every day? Hmm? They would think that he was lying again, and quite possibly run him out on a line, banishing him from the town!" Usopp slapped his hand away.  
"you don't get it, do you! I don't care if they hate me! I have to do everything in my power to save them! They can shoot me, they can run me out of town, they can do anything they want to me, but they can't stop me from loving my town to the death!"  
"if you love your town so much, then use that love of it and defend it! Don't send it into a blind panic! You are the son of Yasopp the pirate, one of the greatest sharpshooters on the high seas! Use your talents for good!" Usopp growled, but followed after Luffy as he raced through the forest to the second hill. Once there, Usopp angrily slopped the oil onto the hill.  
"there! you happy, you slime!" Luffy sighed.  
"Usopp, I know you're angry-"  
"Damn right I'm angry! You want me to leave my people to die!" Luffy punched Usopp in the face.  
"Get a grip! We are NOT leaving the entire village to die! Listen to me, dammit! If you're as good as you say, then prove it! Fight to keep the pirates out of the town! Make your next tall tale a true one! This day will be a peaceful one for the town!" Usopp was silent as he pulled himself from the ground. "Good! Are you listening to reason now?"  
'I… I…" Usopp tightened his jaw. "You're right. I am the notorious captain Usopp. I am the man whose name shall ring across the world as a brave warrior of the sea! I am captain Usopp!" Luffy smiled. Usopp turned around. "Thank you, Luffy. I needed that."  
"You were becoming hysterical. It was the least I could do." Usopp nodded. Luffy looked over at Nami and Zoro, who were standing off to the side watching the whole spectacle. "And what are you two standing around for! Get to work setting up traps!" they jumped at the commanding tone in his voice and set about setting the traps. Luffy grinned and looked up at the rising crescent moon. "And so it begins… captain Kuro…"

"Merry? Where are you?" Kaya called out from inside her bed. The butler hustled into the room, a cloth draped over his hand.  
"Yes, miss Kaya? What can I do for you?"  
"You know those pirates that are in town? The ones that recruited Usopp into their group?" merry nodded. ""Their captain asked for a ship. I have thought about it for a while, and I decided that I will give them a ship. Can you get the rest of the servants to work on restoring the Going Merry?" Merry smiled.  
"The Going Merry? That hasn't been used since…" he stopped himself from saying 'since your mother and father died.' "That hasn't been used in quite some time. Are you sure about giving it to them?" Kaya nodded.  
"If Usopp is going on their ship then I want them to have a good ship, one that they can depend on. I want Usopp to come back alive. Give it any and all renovations that it needs. Make it the best ship in the east blue." Merry smiled and bowed, before walking out of the room. Kaya looked out at the rising crescent moon and smiled slightly. "And so it begins… Usopp…"

Four hours later and the four have set up booby traps and the four are now waiting for the black cat pirates to show. Luffy wakes up and wake Usopp who agrees to waking Nami.  
Luffy took one look at Zoro and kicked him in the ribs. "Oy! Marimo-head! Wake up!"  
"Don't ever call me that again." Zoro grumbled as he propped himself up. He looked out at the rising sun. "It's time, huh?"  
"Yep. You can see their ship getting close." He pointed to a black dot miles out to sea. The black dot was getting closer at an alarming rate. "c'mon, let's hide. If they see we're here, they'll spook." Zoro nodded, and the four of them him behind one of the cliffs.  
The Black Cat's pirate ship slid up the beach front with a crunch of sand and gravel. With a bloodthirsty whoop, the Black Cat pirates leaped onto the beach the beach and charged up the hill. Luffy gestured to Usopp, who nodded. With a quick pull and release from his slingshot, a pebble sliced through a bag of caltrops hanging from one of the cliff sides. The caltrops poured out of the bag and into the feet of the unsuspecting pirates. With a scream, the pirates leaped backwards, only to slide back down the hill covered in oil. Luffy grinned. "And the show begins."  
"What are you brainless idiots doing? We've got to make it to the captain on time, or he'll cut all our throats!" Luffy stepped out from behind the cliff amid silent protests from the three. Django's eyes narrowed. "Ah. I see. Interference."  
"Yes, Django the hypnotist. Interference." Luffy walked down the hill slowly, not sliding once. "I could take on all of Black Cat pirates all by myself. But I'm not." Luffy looked up at his three friends, who, by that time, had realized there was no point in hiding. "They are going to help me."  
"How do you know who I am?" Django asks.  
"You don't remember me from three years ago? The only thing I'm missing is a green army coat." Luffy says as Django pales.  
"W-What are you doing here Reaper?" Django asks horrified.  
"The Reaper?!" The crew says. Luffy summons his scythe which horrifies the pirates and shocks Usopp.  
"Ahhh! The Reaper!" The pirates scream.

"And the captain?"  
"Kuro no doubt knows that it's going to be more than just me fighting. I see no problem with it. Your crew against mine." Django snorted. "And I would much rather you not blurt out the specifications of our little deal. They have no idea about it."  
"Very well, then. As one pirate captain to another, I will honor your request." Django looked up at the three. "Can they hear us?"  
"I would not be talking so freely about the wager if they could." Luffy grinned. "Send your crew against me, one-two Django. It's time for a fight."  
"Aye. That it is. All right, you scurvy sea dogs! ATTACK!" Django screamed, and the crew of the Black Cat pirates charged, cutlasses swinging. Luffy merely smirked.  
"Me against an entire crew… I think they're getting the raw end of the deal." Luffy leaped up into the air and shot into the seething horde of pirates. Nami gasped and tried to run, but Zoro held her back.  
"Don't. You know the captain. He wouldn't rush headlong into a situation he couldn't handle. He is a thinker." The ring of pirates surrounding Luffy exploded out in a flurry of limbs, completely unconscious. Usopp gaped.  
"What! What are you doing! Get up!" Django whipped out his chakram. "At one, two, Django, you will all be healed, and become stronger. And you will keep getting stronger and stronger!" Django waved the chakram back and forth. "One… two… DJANGO!" the wounds of the Black Cat pirates knitted themselves back together, and the scream of battle was more like that of a feral animal. Luffy looked up at his crew.  
"I think I might need some help now." He didn't, of course, but he didn't want them feeling left out. Zoro drew his swords and ran into the fray. Usopp gulped and drew his slingshot back. Nami merely sat back, wondering how she could help.  
"Tiger… TRAP!" two pirates fell, blood gushing from them. Zoro looked up at Luffy, who had now drawn his sword instead of his scythe. "You think you can handle this much, captain?" Luffy grinned.  
"Of course! Even without my powers, this is a cinch!" Luffy lunged forward and stabbed a man in the gut, sliding out and slicing across another's torso. Both fell to the ground bleeding. "Ah, screw this! This is getting boring!" Luffy calmly wiped the blood off his sword and sheathed it, fending off the pirate attackers with his feet. "water water GIANT SCYTHE!" the Black Cat pirates fell like wheat to a scythe as Luffy calmly dusted off his hands. He looked Django straight in the eye. "c'mon, Django! Don't you have anything better I can fight?"Django eyed the carnage the two had laid with a disbelieving eye.  
'Damn Reaper!' Django thinks. "What was that you just did? What black magic did you just do?" Django grinned. "I think it's time we brought out the heavy artillery. "BUTCHIE! SIAM! GET DOWN HERE!" he screamed up to the ship. Two shadowy figures peered over the side.  
"Well, I'll be damned! The straw hat's got some spunk! The entire crew's laid out like dead mice to a ratter!"  
"Shall we join the fray?"  
"We shall!" the two ship's guards leaped down and landed gracefully. "Butchie and Siam, reporting for duty! We'll slice up anybody you want!" Django pointed at Luffy and Zoro.  
"Cut them down." Butchie and Siam backed away fearfully, trembling.  
"bu-b-but, they look really tough!" Siam stuttered.  
"Yeah! We're just the ship guards! We're not supposed to do any fighting!" Luffy snorted.  
"c'mon, you two. Your act's not fooling anybody! Just get up here and fight!" Siam looked up at Luffy with an appraising eye.  
"Not bad, if you can see through the act. All right then! Butchie! It's time we carve ourselves some pirate!" Siam rushed in while Butchie leaped into the air.  
"Cat-a-pult! Cat-strike! Cat-astrophe!" the fat Black Cat pirate landed straight on Luffy's head, who didn't move an inch. The pirate captain was flatter than a pancake as the ground beneath him cracked like a pancake. Usopp's head twitched to the side, foaming at the mouth.  
"Hah! He was all talk!" a cool blade touched his neck, and Butchie hissed.  
"Who's all talk, now?" Luffy asks with his scythe in hand Django flinched back.  
"Pussyfoot!" Luffy grinned.  
"No. not the pussyfoot maneuver. My own special brand of kick-ass!" Luffy punted Butchie forward, where he rolled into a cliff. "I think you can take care of the other one, Zoro. Have fun!" Luffy charged off towards Butchie. Zoro grinned.  
"Aye aye, captain!" with a slash of his blades, he was engaged in battle with the second ship guard. "So, you think you can beat me?" Zoro swung his left sword at Siam. When he caught it with both hands, he slashed at his stomach. The cat-like pirate fell down, seemingly dead. Zoro prodded at him. "No blood? You're not dead yet."  
"Aye, that I'm not!" with a quick jump, Siam was on Zoro's back. "I'll take these!" with a quick twist of his hands, both of Zoro's swords were in his hand. "Lost something, me bucko? You don't need these anymore!" he tossed the two swords away, only to dodge Just in time from an irritable swordsman.  
"Swords that don't belong to you…" he swung at Siam. "Should be respected!" Siam caught the blade again.  
"But isn't one sword good enough for you?" Siam leered. "Come now, try your luck!" Zoro cursed and rushed forwards.  
"cat-a-pult!" Butchie leaped up into the air. Luffy rolled out of the way as the ground cracked beneath his feet. "You're a mobile little rat. Stop moving around and let me kill you!"  
"And become a pirate flavored pancake? No thanks, I'll pass." Luffy slashed with his sword as Butchie wound up for another leap. "Stay down!"  
"GHH!" Butchie bit back a curse as the blade bit into his stomach. He grabbed the Nodachi and yanked it out of Luffy's grip. "Stop playing with your twigs!" he tossed the sword into the cliff, where it stayed buried up to the hilt. "Now, fight like a man!"  
"You asked for it!" Luffy lunged forward and smashed his fist into the fat ship guard's face. Butchie rolled like a bowling ball into the cliff. Luffy calmly walked over to his sword and yanked on it. "Damn, you got this thing in there good!" Luffy pounded on the cliff. The entire section fell outwards, and Luffy pulled his sword free from the rubble. "There we go!" he looked over to Butchie, who was slowly getting up. "y'know, I was using the sword to give you a fighting chance against me. But, if you don't want me to use it…" Luffy sheathed it and banished it till summoned, before pulling back his fist. "Water Water PISTOL!" the rubber fist shot out and socked Butchie in the face, and the pirate fell unconscious. Luffy looked over to Zoro. "Oy! Having a bit of trouble, are we?"  
"Just shut up and get me my swords!" Zoro ground out as Siam slashed at Zoro's stomach, splitting it open like a fish. Luffy nodded and started to run for them, only to see Nami running as well.  
"Looks like my job is done." He spots four pirates going for Nami. "Or, not." The four manage to get to Nami and one cuts her arm. "You four are dead." Luffy says.  
All see him disappear to only reappear behind the four and he put his arms around them and this horrifies them to have Luffy behind them.  
"Ahhh!" The four scream seeing Luffy.  
Luffy pulls them away from Nami and they roll down the hill a little. Luffy uses his scythe and opens the ground and four hooded figures climb out of the crack which fly towards four pirates who are terrofied as well as the others. The cloaked figures reach them and attack them and their blood sprays everywhere.  
Nami, Zoro, Usopp are horrified.

"Did you sell your soul to the Devil?" A new voice asks. Everyone looks to see Kuro pale.  
"No. Worse." Luffy says behind Kuro who spins around to feel the blade of the scythe at his throat.  
"Worse than selling your soul to the devil?"Kuro asks.  
"Yes. Worse than that, because I am the devil. My Real name is Monkey D. Lucifer but I go by Luffy." Luffy says giving Kuro a evil and dark grin.  
"he's mine. I'll take Kuro on." He stepped forward. "Kuro of the thousand plans. Hunted by the marines for thirteen years. Supposedly executed three years ago. Caught by lieutenant axe-hand Morgan. Uses extreme speed and finger blades to attack." He tipped his hat. "it will be an honor to defeat someone as distinguished as you."  
"aye, let's see." Luffy cocked his fist. "Water Water PISTOL!" the fist shot out at Kuro, only for Kuro to disappear into thin air. He reappeared standing a few feet from Luffy.  
"A devil fruit. I see."  
"I'm a water man." Luffy grinned. "And I got a few more tricks in my book." Kuro reappeared behind Luffy, finger blade at his neck. "Hahaha! Very nice! However…" Luffy whirled around. "The game is up. Water Water GATLING GUN!" a barrage of fists assaulted Kuro, and the now extremely bloodied captain.

Kuro uses his technique to get away from Luffy. Kuro appears between Luffy and his crew. Luffy charges with his scythe and sends a slash at Kuro who dodges but it goes into the pirates cutting some up and they have blood spraying everywhere.  
Kuro vanishes and Luffy stands there. He turns with his fist flying through the air and he hits Kuro who goes flying into the side of the cliff.  
Luffy battles with Kuro for an hour because Kuro kept using his pussy foot move to vanish and it is frustrating Luffy. Luffy had broke all of Kuro's blades on his cat claw gloves. Luffy summoned his scythe and he starts to glow black and purple while twirling his scythe. He lets out a yell and a large gust of wind spreads followed by slash marks which hit Kuro and the pirates. Kuro is now covered in wounds and is on the ground lying on his back and Luffy stands over him.  
"It looks like I won. Need a hand?" Luffy asks shocking the others.  
"If you would captain." Kuro says and Luffy helps him to his feet.  
Nami, Usopp, and Zoro stare at Luffy.  
"What?" He asks.  
"What was that about?" Nami asks.  
"I made a wager with Kuro to where who ever lost has to serve under the other and Kuro lost so he is now a Straw Hat." Luffy says shocking the three.  
"He and I had a wager. The person who lost this little encounter was to swear allegiance to the winner. Kuro lost. He is now the first captain in the Straw Hat Armada." Luffy grinned. Usopp stared.  
"You… you gambled Kaya's LIFE! For his allegiance!"  
"Luffy grinned. "Nope! There was never any gamble at all! 'Cause the odds were stacked! He could never win against the four of us!" Kuro grinned ruefully and shook his head, even though he now knew it was completely true. "The entire thing was completely rigged in our favor!" Usopp stared.  
"He and I had a wager. The person who lost this little encounter was to swear allegiance to the winner. Kuro lost. He is now the first captain in the Straw Hat Armada." Luffy grinned. Usopp stared.  
"You… you gambled Kaya's LIFE! For his allegiance!"  
"Luffy grinned. "Nope! There was never any gamble at all! 'Cause the odds were stacked! He could never win against the four of us!" Kuro grinned ruefully and shook his head, even though he now knew it was completely true. "The entire thing was completely rigged in our favor!" Usopp stared.  
"Alright go tell your crew." Luffy says.  
Kuro turns and walks towrds his crew.

-With Kuro-  
"Captain what is the Plan?" Django asks.  
"Alright listen up we now sail under the Straw Hat flag." Kuro says shocking his crew.  
"What?!" The crew shouts.  
"We placed a wager remember and I lost so he is now our captain." Kuro says.  
"The Reaper. The Reaper is now our captain." Some say with tears of fear after seeing Luffy fight.  
"Now then." Luffy says appearingg startling them. "You told them everything?" He asks.  
"Yes captain I did. They are shocked by the news." Kuro says.  
"I don't blame them.." Luffy says looking at the pirates. "To be told that your new captain happens to be the Reaper of the Revlution, that is shocking news." He says as he looks at them and sees the wounded. "Alright all wounded come forward. That means you too Nami!" Luffy says yelling the last at Nami.  
Nami and all the wounded line up and Luffy healls them with his Mizu no mi powers shocking all.

"Miss Kaya you can come out. I am sorry that you had to see all of that." Luffy says.  
Everyone turns to see Kaya with wide eyes.  
"Kaya." Usopp says.  
"Well I believe this is goodbye." Luffy says.  
"Wait!" Kaya says. The trio stops and turns around and looks at Kaya.  
"To show my appreciation for saving me and the village please follow me." Kaya says walking away.  
The trio as well as Kuro follows Kaya to the beach and is surprised to see a ship.  
"This is a gift for you Luffy." Kaya says.  
"Thank you Miss Kaya." Luffy says.  
"This is a model that I designed. It is a caravel. Its name is the Going Merry." Merry says.  
"I will now tell you how it works." Merry says.  
"Don't tell me. Tell Nami since she is the navigator." Luffy says.  
"Okay." Merry says turning to Nami.  
Nami and Zoro have boarded except for Luffy and Kuro. The two walk up to Kaya, Merry, and Usopp.  
"I have a question for you three." Luffy says.  
"What is it Luffy?" Usopp asks.  
"Would you three like to join my crew?" Luffy ask surprising them.  
"Why?" Kaya asks.  
"Well if you join you will get better. The reason why your health is the way it is is because you are living in the house that your parents were killed in." Luffy says surprising them.  
"So what will it be Miss Kaya? Stay or come?" Luffy asks with his hand out stretched to her. "I'll go with you captain." Kaya says taking his hand.  
"If she goes I go." Merry says.  
"Same here." Usopp says.  
"Alright then all aboard you three." Luffy says smiling.  
"Yes captain." The three say heading for the ship and board it.


	8. Chapter 8: Meeting Sanji

Here is chapter 8. Sorry it is two days late but I had to rewrite this chpater after it got wipe from my computer. The chapters will be starting to be longer from here on out unless I say otherise.

So witout further adieu. Chapter 8

* * *

CHAPTER 8

The Going Merry has been sailing for a week and Zoro and Usopp were complaining about how the girls got the cabin. But Luffy said since he was captain and what he says goes. The Going Merry has

a captain's quarter for Luffy and a briefin room that was aded on by Merry back at Syrup Village.

"Kuro. Step into the briefing room for a minute. I wish to speak with you about something." Kuro nodded and walked with Luffy into the large room in the hull. Luffy turned around and looked Kuro square

in the eye. "Now, Kuro. You must realize by now that I am a very practical man. I do everything I do for a reason." Kuro nodded. "I have allowed you to become a member of this crew, amid much

complaint, because I will have need of your talents in the future."

"Talents, sir?"

"Your nickname is Kuro of the thousand plans. You have a brilliant mind for strategy, who can plan years ahead for one single action. I will be needing that greatly in the coming months." Luffy's eyes

took on a steely glint. "In the coming months, once I have assembled a proper crew, I will begin to wage war on the world government." Kuro flinched back and hissed. "I have seen the corruption that

runs miles deep in the system. I have witnessed the inhumanity in their ways. I have lived the way they would do anything to further their careers. The entire system needs an overhaul. I intend to be

the one who does it."

"You sound like the world's most wanted criminal, the revolutionary Dragon." "Well I was in the Revolutionary Army for a year and was at a general's rank. That and I should now the man, after all he is

my father." Luffy says and Kuro stares in complete and utter shock. His shock is so great to where his glasses almost slide completely off his nose. Luffy leaves Kuro to gather his thoughts.

Luffy walks out of the briefin room and he sees Usopp with the cannon pointed at a rock formation.

"Usopp don't fire the cannon." Luffy says surprising him.

"Why Luffy?" Usopp asks.

"Help me steer the ship to that formation and you will see why." Luffy says.

"Okay." Usopp says walking with Luffy to the rudder.

Nami feels the ship turning and she walks out to see Luffy telling Usopp the directions to a rock formation she turns to see Kuro lost in thought and a little blue after walking out of Luffy's quarters.

"Luffy what are you doing? And are you okay Kuro?" Nami asks.

"Yes I am fine." Kuro says.

"Zoro bring that barrel of limes up from below deck please." Luffy says.

"Sure." Zoro says.

The Going Merry gets to the rock formation and everyone sees a small boat.

"Hello?" Luffy calls.

"Who are you and what do you want?" A man asks.

"My name is Luffy and I wanted to know if you need help with anything." Luffy says.

"Thank goodness. There is it's my friend." The man says.

"Alright lets bring him aboard to better look at him." Luffy says. Luffy and Usopp help the man bring his friend aboard the Going Merry. Zoro recognizes the man.

"Johnny?" Zoro asks.

"Zoro-aniki what are you doing here?" Johnny asks.

"He is my first mate and what is wrong with your friend?"Luffy asks walking up to Yosaku and slaps him.

"I don't know. He was fine the other day." Johnny says.

"Well, well it has been a while since I have seen this." Luffy says.

"What is it captain?" Kaya asks.

"Your friend here has scurvy." Luffy says.

"Really?" Johnny asks.

"Yes. Usopp give me a hand in squeezing lime juice into Yosaku's mouth. Luffy says.

"Alright." Usopp says walking over. The two squeeze about 15 limes into Yosaku's mouth till he reacts.

"Alright he will need at least three days of rest." Luffy says but Yosaku jumps up. He and Johnny start dancing around. Luffy pushes Yosaku to the deck.

"Like i said he needs to rest for three days." Luffy says while everyone has sweatdrops. Zoro walks up to the two and he takes Johnny's hand.

"This just shows that we need to eat healthy." Nami says.

"What Nami said is right that is why the next person for to recruit is a cook and I know where to go to find a good cook." Luffy says.

"Really? Where captain?" Kaya asks.

"The floating restaurant the Baratie." Luffy says.

"Hey we know where it is. It is to the northwest." Johnny says.

"Alright Merry change course to the northwest." Luffy says.

"Yes captain." Merry says walking to the rudder.

"God dammit… I need to clear my head…" he leaped to the edge of the railing. "I'm going for a swim. Zoro, you're in charge while I'm gone." With a

graceful dive, Luffy penetrated the water without a

sound. Zoro looked up from his nap.

"Aye aye, captain…" he looked at Nami. "Now it's your turn to work your stuff, navigator. Find us a floating restaurant."

Luffy shot out of the surf in a spray of water droplets two hours later. He knelt down on the water, which had gone still in a perfect circle around him. "now,

let's see if I can find my ship…" Luffy pressed his palm lightly

into the water. "find the Going Merry." A loud ping sounded, and a circular wave spread outward from him. a few seconds later, another wave from the

north returned to him. Luffy grinned. "there we go.

Now… find the Baratie." A second ping went out, and returned just as quickly, from the northeast. "alright. They're closing in. time for me to get going."

With a snap of his fingers, Luffy was surrounded by

a waterspout. "fire in the hole!" with a spray of water, Luffy was shot flying into the air, headed for the Baratie. Luffy lands near the Going Merry then

jumps out of the water and lands on the ship.

The straw hats sail for one hour and they see the Baratie in the distance.

"Behold the Baratie!" Luffy says.

They arrive 30 minutes later and the straw hats are within 500 yards when a marine ship pulls alongside the Going Merry. The captain of the Marine

ship walks forward.

"The straw hats? Never heard of them. Which one of you is the captain?" He asks.

"I am. My name is Luffy and we made our flag yesterday." Luffy says.

"Well I am Lieutenant Fullbody." Fullbody says.

"Well let's go to our reservation at the restaurant. And for that boat? Sink it." Fullbody says to two marines as he walks to a row boat with his date.

"Yes sir!" The two marines say. Fullbody and his date are almost to the restaurant. "Luffy they are aiming a cannon at us." Usopp says pointing at a cannon that is moving.

"I got it." Luffy says summoning his sword. The cannon fires and Luffy spins and cuts the cannon ball in half and his move sends one half at the marine ship catching it on fire and almost sinking it. The

other half unfortunately flew to the restaurant destroying part of the roof.

"Oops." Luffy says.

"I have to go check that." Luffy says vanishing shocking Usopp, Kaya, Merry, Johnny, and Yosaku. Luffy appears right before the door to go inside. He walks in and sees a server. He walks up to him.

"Excuse me waiter?" Luffy asks.

"Huh? I am not a waiter. I am a cook. My name is Sanji." Sanji says.

"Oh I am sorry. It's just that your attire looks like a waiter." Luffy says.

"It's okay. So what can I help you with?" Sanji asks.

"I need to see the owner about that explosion." Luffy says.

"Oh. Well I would take you but I am busy. If you go up those stairs ask one of the cooks to take you." Sanji says.

"Okay thanks." Luffy says. Luffy goes upstairs and has a cook take him to the owner. Luffy walks in to see the owner yelling at some cooks. Luffy sees that the owner has blood running down his face.

"Chef you have a guest." The cook leading Luffy says.

"Who?" The owner asks angrily.

"Hello my name is Luffy." Luffy says.

"All of you leave us two." The owner says.

"Yes chef Zeff." The cooks say as they leave.

"What do you want?" Zeff asks.

"I am kind of involved with the explosion that just happened." Luffy says.

"So you're responsible for this?" Zeff asks.

"I said I was partly involved. A marine ship fired at my ship." Luffy says.

"Well to work the damage off you have to work here for a year." Zeff asks.

"Okay sure thi...A YEAR?!" Luffy shouts.

"Yes unless you give me one of your legs." Zeff says holding a saw.

'Time to mess with this guy.' Luffy thinks. Luffy grabs the saw and cut his leg off horrorfying Zeff.

"Good god boy I wasn't being serious about that!"Zeff yells.

"Shishishishi." Luffy laughs as his leg turns to water and fuses with his body surprising Zeff.

"You have eaten a Devil Fruit haven't you?"Zeff asks.

"Yes and I scared you good."Luffy says still with a grin. "Okay I will work here for three weeks.

"Okay. You're the chore boy now."Zeff says.

"Alright." Luffy says walking for the door.

Luffy walks downstairs and he sees his crew walk in.

"Hey guys." Luffy greets walking up.

"Hey Luffy." Nami says smiling. She loses her smile when she sees him wearing a apron.

"Luffy what's with the apron?" She asks.

"I am stuck working here for three weeks to cover for the damage to the roof." Luffy says in pouting voice.

The straw hats sit and place their orders to Luffy. Their food comes and they start eating.

"Lieutenant Fullbody!" A marine yells opening the door and everyone looks at the marine.

"What?!" Fullbody asks.

"Sir the prisoner has escaped!" The marine says.

"What? How?" Fullbody asks.

"Sir he escaped while we were putting out the fire on board." The marine says. As soon as he says that a gun goes off and the marine drops to the ground dead.

"Ahhh!" A girl screams and everyone is scared except for Luffy's table.

The whole restaurant is quiet when they see it is a crew member of the Don Krieg pirates. Everyone is frozen except at Luffy's table.

Gin makes his way to a table and sits down.

"How are you paying?" asks the waiter that takes his order.

"How about a bullet to the head?" Gin says but from the lack of food the waiter sends him flying through the doors. Out of the corner of Luffy's eyes he sees a cook with a plate of food walk out a door and Luffy slips away to see and he listens to the conservation.

"Here you go." The cook says.

"But I have no money." Gin says.

"Eat you dont have to pay for starvation." Replies the cook.

"Thank you. What's your name?" Gin asks.

"Name's Sanji." Sanji says.

"Thank you Sanji." Gin says.

"What do we have here?" Zeff asks.

"What do you care old man?" Sanji says.

"Sanji I got you in trouble." Gin says. Sanji picks up the empty plate and drops it over the side into the ocean.

"How can I be in trouble if there is no evidence?" Sanji says smiling.

Gin uses a dinghy and sails to Don Krieg.

Zeff goes back inside. Sanji stays to have a smoke.

"That was nice of you Sanji." Luffy says startling Sanji a little.

"Huh? Thanks. Who are you? Wait you were the person who thought I was a waiter."Sanji asks.

"My names Luffy, nice to meet ya." Luffy says.

"Likewise." Sanji returns.

"Sanji I have a proposition for you." Luffy says.

"What is it?" Asks Sanji.

"How would you like to leave the Baratie and join my crew and sail the grand line with me?" Luffy asks.

"It sounds interesting, but I can't leave. The old man won't give me the respect that I deserve." Sanji says.

"Nami." Luffy walks over the table his crew is at. "I need to talk to you." she stsnds up and follows Luffy onto the Merry into the captain's quarters.

"Yes, captain?" Luffy looks at her and He smiles sadly.

"We are not to far from Coyashi Island." Nami went pale. "I know that you're in his crew, remember? Back when we first met?" Nami looked down, afraid to meet her captain's eye. "It's okay, Nami. I trust you." Nami still did not look up. Luffy straightened up. "I have a job for you to do, Nami."

"Yes?" she asked while still looking at her shoes.

"I need you to steal the ship." Nami's head whipped up.

"What!" Luffy nodded.

"Yeah. I need you to steal the ship. We've been here for two days, and I'm getting a bad feeling. Something big is going to happen here, and I don't want the ship damaged. I need you to steal the ship and head off wherever you want." He lowered his voice. "You can use the treasure on the ship as well." Nami's hand went up to her mouth, eyes trembling. "You still need to pay off Arlong, right?" he smiled. "I can't let your village stay in slavery to him just because you're going to help me become king of the pirates!"

"You…"

"Don't tell anybody about this. We need them all thinking that you suddenly turned traitor to us, and that you sailed off with the ship to Arlong Park with all the treasure. Because then, there's no chance that anybody will let it slip that you're completely loyal to us." Nami was frozen, before gripping Luffy in a fierce hug, sobbing against his chest. Luffy merely held her close.

"Thank you… thank you…" she cried, shaking in his grip. "Thank you…" Zoro pushed himself off the wall to the men's quarters, having heard every word they said. So, his captain was having his navigator steal his own ship. And their navigator was a part of fish-man Arlong's crew. Luffy knew so much more than he was telling them. So many questions, and so few answers… when would it all end? Zoro ruffled his clothes and walked out of the men's quarters, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"YAAWWWWN! Morning, captain, Nami. Shouldn't you be off to work yet, Luffy?" Luffy grinned at how strange that sounded to be saying that to a pirate.

"Yeah. I should get going. You coming too, Zoro?" Zoro smoothed out the wrinkles in his outfit.

"Yeah. I could use some good breakfast." Zoro walked along the gangplank with Luffy into the restaurant, with Nami just staring at Luffy's retreating back, a strange feeling building in her heart.

'Is this… hope? Or…'

The crash of a wine glass echoed around the restaurant. "Krieg's pirates!" the entire restaurant rushed to the window where the flagship of the great pirate was seen. "The hourglass beside the skull means that time has run out for their enemies! There's no mistake! It's Krieg's pirates!" Luffy got back from talking to Zeff and paying for the damage.

"Zoro… I knew something was going to happen today." Zoro looked up, his new meal ignored.

"That's why you told Nami to take the ship and leave, right?" Luffy's head whipped around. "Don't worry. A true swordsman has a fine control on the things he knows. The rest of the crew will never find out from me." Luffy nodded.

"Very well. Let's go get Sanji from the kitchen. He'll want to see this." Zoro looked at the water man oddly. "He's our new chef. I can feel it."

"Another hunch?" Luffy nodded. Zoro chuckled. "Your hunches are getting to be notorious throughout the crew. If you get a hunch about something, it will happen without fail. How do you do it?" Luffy shrugged.

"It's a gift. Now, let's go." Luffy pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen. Sanji was there, practicing his art. "Sanji. It looks like Gin brought back friends." Sanji nodded. "I'll bet they're in the same condition he was in. get a meal for one, to start. He'll bring in the captain first." Sanji nodded again.

"I'll get on it, straw hat." Luffy turned and walked out of the kitchen, to see Gin and Krieg pleading on the ground.

"Please… I beg you! Leftover rice… anything!"

"Here, Gin. He can eat this." Krieg immediately snatched the plate away and began stuffing his face.

"Thank you!" Carne pointed an accusing finger at Sanji.

"Sanji! Take that food away from him! Don't you know who he is!"

"I don't care if he's foul-play Krieg or the king of the pirates. The Baratie prides itself on not refusing paying customers." Krieg finished his mad scramble for food and stood up.

"The food was good. My strength is returning. Thank you, straw hat." Luffy tipped his hat. Krieg grinned. "It's a real nice restaurant. I'll take it." Gin gaped at his captain, clearly not knowing about this new development. Luffy shook his head.

"Now, what kind of thanks is that? We feed you and then you steal our ride? That's not very nice."

"My flagship is a wreck. When I'm finished with you, I'll dump you." he gestured out to the massively scarred galleon. "There are about one hundred men on my ship who still draw breath. They're dieing from wounds, hunger and thirst. They need 100 rations of food and water. You will prepare them. Some of them have starved to death. There is no time to waste."

"You expect us to feed one hundred pirates! So they have the strength to take over our ship! We refuse!" Krieg did not move an inch.

"Refuse? You don't understand. It's not a request." His eyes turned murderous. "It's an order! Do not defy me!" Gin turned to his captain.

"Captain! You said we were just coming here for the food! You said you wouldn't!" Krieg smashed Gin to the ground. Gin spat out blood.

"quiet." Sanji says. Luffy turned and started walking towards the kitchen.

"Sanji! You got us into this mess!" Patty turned around and saw them retreating. "Where are you going?"

"To the kitchen, of course." Sanji said, as if he was pointing out the weather.

The pistol of every cook in the room was instantly trained on him. Luffy shook his head. "Are you people truly cooks? Because cooks feed people. They do not judge them." "Sanji, I know you feed the men that I chase off. Maybe you're right to do that sometimes. But this time, you're wrong! I don't know why, but it stops now! Now you two keep still! I'm going to defend this restaurant!" he turned to Krieg. "He may be Don Krieg, but he"s just one man! He can"t beat all of us!" he picked up a large cannon of some sort. "This is Baratie! We deal with rowdy pirates every day. And we know just what customer service to give them!" he leveled the cannon at the silent pirate. "You've eaten! Now here's your dessert! The meatball of doom!"

"impudence." Krieg muttered as the cannonball struck him dead on. Patty drew up the cannon.

"Blast. I busted the doors."

"And for nothing. Do you really think that you're the first person to point a cannon at Krieg? He's got steel armor." Luffy stated matter-of-factly.

"You're correct, straw hat!" Krieg walked out of the smoke and ruined doors. "That dessert was a bit heavy for my tastes. Hardly a four-star meal."

"Steel armor! What a dirty trick! Rush him!"

"INSOLENCE!" Krieg roared as guns appeared from out of nowhere on his armor. The resulting bullets tore through the rushing cooks like rice paper. Gin cringed down on the ground, wishing it was all a bad dream. "No one defies Krieg, you worthless scum! I am stronger than anyone!" "Arms of steel, stronger than any flesh!" he flexed his arm. "A carapace of the strongest wootz steel! Diamond fists to demolish anything! And a built-in array of weapons! I command fifty ships and 5,000 fighting men! I've never lost a battle! I am the don of the pirate armada! If I tell you to prepare food, you shut up and do it! NO ONE DEFIES ME!"

Clunk! A huge bag plopped down in front of Krieg. Zeff crossed his arms.

"Chef Zeff!"

"There's food for a hundred. Take it to your men." Don Krieg's eyes widened.

"Zeff…did you say Zeff?"

"Chef! What're you thinking! If we feed those pirates, they'll come and overrun us!" Luffy stepped up.

"Doubtful. They're all spineless cowards." The cooks reeled. "You went to the grand line… but you came back here with your tail between your legs." "The tyrant of the eastern seas, who commands fifty pirate ships, couldn't handle the grand line." Krieg stared.

"You're 'red shoes' Zeff!" he stared, then seemed to affirm his own claim. "'Red shoes' Zeff. So you're alive. A unique pirate, the captain-cook." Zeff shrugged.

"So what if I'm alive? What's it to you? Now I'm a chef exclusively." Krieg laughed.

"Ha! You say it like it was a choice. But did you choose to be a cook… or was being a pirate too much for you?" he glanced down at the peg leg. "Looks like your red shoes days are over." He looked around. "They say you died at sea. I see you didn't lose your life… but you did lose one of your precious legs." Zeff held up his hands.

"I can't fight anymore, but I can cook, as long as I have these two hands. What are you getting at? Spit it out."

"He probably wants your logbook. He wants to know how you sailed the grand line for a year and returned unscathed." Zeff looked at Luffy.

"I won't give my logbook to you. For me and the men who sailed with me, that logbook is a testament. I won't give it to the likes of you!"

"Then I'll take it from you! It's true that I didn't succeed on the grand line! But I am Don Krieg, the mightiest of them all! Weaklings do well to shun that dark route. But I had plenty of strength! Men and ships! And ambition! The only thing I lacked was knowledge! That's what stopped me!" Luffy snorted.  
"and you had shitty bad luck going in. tell me, how was it that you were destroyed utterly in seven days?" the entire room reeled back at the fact that Don Krieg and his mighty pirate armada was destroyed in seven days. "Oh, yeah! That's right! You interrupted Dracule Mihawk's nap!" Zoro's head whipped up. "All the knowledge in the world can't help you if you have the worst luck in the world." Don Krieg leveled his fist at him, all gun barrels on him rippling.

"INSOLENCE!" all the guns fired, aiming at Luffy.

"LUFFY!" all the Straw Hats yelled as Luffy took the bullets head on. An entire round of fire punctured into him. Luffy pitched forward… and stomped his foot on the ground. The restaurant watched with horrified fascination as the lumps that were the bullets traveled through his body and into his hand. Luffy flicked one up in the air.

"I believe these are yours. Why don't I return them?" Luffy clenched his fist, and the lumps that were the bullets flowed under the skin and into his mouth. Luffy took in a deep breath… and fired. The bullets sprayed out at lightning fast speed like a shotgun firing. The small pellets smashed into Don Krieg and sent him rolling ass-over-teakettle out of the restaurant. The cooks were dead silent, before breaking out into raucous cheering.

"Straw Hat! How'd you do that!"

Luffy grabbed the bag of food and started carrying it out to the ship. "Straw Hat! Where are you going?"

"To feed the crew. They are still starving." The chefs stopped cheering immediately.

"You idiot! We've got the captain on the run! Why would we feed his crew so they can take over?" Zeff smashed his peg leg on the ground.

"Shut up, you stupid eggplants!" the cooks all turned to him. "Has any of you truly been hungry before? Have you gone for days without food and water on the high seas? Do you have any idea what agony that is?" "Because chef Zeff and Sanji know. They know it perfectly well." Luffy spoke. "It's why they, along with myself, were the only ones here that were willing to help the pirates that are going to overrun this restaurant. Because they know what they went through." Gin sat on the ground, crying.

"I'm sorry, Sanji… Straw Hat… I had no idea it would come to this… he said he was just coming for food…" Luffy walked out of the door.

"It's not your fault, Gin. He's foul-play Krieg. He'll deceive anybody that he wants, if it furthers his ambitions. He's the kind of pirate that gives the rest of us honorable pirates a bad name." Luffy crouched down, and leaped all the way up to the ship. The moaning pirates laying about turned their heads to him and reached for their cutlasses, but flinched back as hunger pains overtook them. Luffy started handing out platters of food. "Eat. I don't care if you're going to overrun this restaurant. It's a restaurant first and foremost." The entire crew scrambled to Luffy and the plates of food. With disgusting speed, the crew gulped the whole mess down. "There. You full?"

"AH-ROOOOO!" the pirates howled. WE'RE SAVED!" they started dancing. "We're back from the brink!" "It's a miracle!" "We've escaped our doom!" "The nightmare is over!"

"So. Is it truly your intention to take over the Baratie and sail back to the grand line?" all movement on the ship halted with those words. Luffy shrugged.

"Because that's what your captain said in the Baratie."

"Return? To certain death!" one of the men screeched. "Really? Because he said that once he had taken over the Baratie, and obtained chef Zeff's logbook, he would return to the grand line!" the crew roared with disapproval. Luffy shook his head in sadness. "It's a shame, really. Doesn't he know that only the men with devil fruit powers truly make it in the grand line?"

"Devil fruit!" Luffy nodded.

"Uh-huh. You know the Shishibukai? Six out of seven of them have devil fruit powers. Now, that, to me, says something." Luffy placed his finger to his chin. "Let's see, who was the guy with no devil fruit powers? Oh yeah, Dracule Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world. The man with the eyes of a hawk, that could kill you with a single glance." The entire crew erupted into panicked screams. Luffy looked up, feigning surprise. "Oh, you know Dracule Mihawk?"

"He's the man who scuppered all of our ships!" Luffy nodded.

"There, you see? Do you really think that your captain could stand up to a guy like that, when he doesn't even have a devil fruit?" the entire crew trembled.

"I'll take that as a no. but, do you want to know something?" he leaned in. "my childhood friend regularly has duels with him, and sometimes wins." The crew reeled back. Luffy nodded self-assuredly. "And I learned some fighting techniques from him! I could protect you from Dracule Mihawk, if you joined me!"  
"How do we know you're not lying?" a stubborn pirate yelled from the crowd. Luffy thought for a moment.

"If I beat your captain, you will know that I'm stronger than him, right? And that I'm not lying! If I defeat your captain, that's proof that I can protect you from Dracule Mihawk!" the crew murmured. One of the pirates, clearly the spokesman, stepped forward.

"This deal stinks to high heaven, straw hat, but we agree. If you can beat Don Krieg, we'll join you under your protection from Mihawk." The man shivered. Luffy nodded.

"Very well, then. The pact is made." Luffy ran to the rail and leaped back down to the restaurant.

Luffy walks to the Going Merry. He boards the ship and goes to the captain's quarters and opens the opening in the wall and pulls out his radio and sets it up.

"USS Iowa do you copy? I repeat USS Iowa do you copy?" Luffy calls on the radio.

"This is the Iowa." Replies the radio officer.

"Iowa this is Luffy do you copy?" Luffy asks.

"Yes! Captain we copy you loud and clear." Replies Linares.

"Who am I talking with? Is this Linares?" Luffy asks.

"Captain this is radio officer Linares, sir." Replies Linares.

"Can you get me the Gunther please?" Luffy asks.

"Yes sir. If you will excuse me." Linares says.

"Sir! Captain has radioed in!" Linares says. Gunther follows her to the bridge.

"Hello captain." Gunther says.

"Hey Gunther how is the Iowa?" "Good. What can I do for you captain?"

"I need you to sail to my position. How long will it take for you to get here?"

"It will not tke very long."

"Okay start sailing for my position but stop 5 miles from me. I will have my hand held radio with the ear piece in. So radio me when you are five miles out. Oh! Another thing look for ship to brin with you."

"Yes captain. We will see you soon." Gunther says.

"Alright see you soon." Luffy says terminating the transmission and putting the radio back in its hiding place. He put in his ear transponder that is connected to a hand held radio. He walks back inside and continues to eat with his crew.

One hour later

"Captain can you hear me?" Gunther radios and Luffy hears it. He lifts his wrist.

"Yeah I hear you. Are you five miles from my position?" He whispers.

"Yes we are captain."

"Excuse me guys." Luffy says to his crew and walks out but he did not notice that Nami followed him.

"Gunther what direction are you in?" "Sir we are south of you. We can see you."

"Really? I can barely see you, are you using CIC's scope?"

"Yes captain we are."

"Okay. Alright you need to stay there and keep an eye on radar and be ready to come here and light this place up. Did you find a ship?"

"Yes captain we did. It's name is the Black Pearl. Sir what should be coming?"

"A pirate named Don Krieg is here and I heard they are being followed by a pirate warlord."

"Really? Who?"

"Dracule Mihawk. But you need to be on standby. If you get something on radar tell me and move to where you are two and a half miles away."

"Yes captain. Understood."

"Alright. See you soon since we will be doing a mission in liberating a village. I need you to find any information on Arlong the fishman and brief the crew because when we are done here we will be going to Coyashi Village and be bombarding the place Arlong uses for a base. Oh and brief the infantry so they know how to deal with Arlong's crew by using the right bullets. I don't want any of these fishman to be allowed to live.

"Yes captain. Would you like to deploy a tank or aircraft for this?"

"I am not sure. Probably not air support but ground support maybe and have two tanks prepped for incase we need them."

"Yes captain." Gunther says ending the transmission. Luffy plugs his ear piece back in and he turns around and walks around the corner surprised to see Nami, who is looking at the ground. He notices a drop of water land on the ground and he knows it is from Nami.

"Nami?"

"Luffy is what you said true?"

"How much did you hear?"

"All of it."

*Sigh*"Yes all of what you heard is true."

"You have another crew?"

"Yes but the other crew is called the straw hat pirate crew. I want to explain but I can't now. I will after I deal with Arlong." Luffy and Nami walk back inside with Nami looking at the ground.

"Nami what is wrong?" Kaya asks.

"Huh oh nothing. Everything is fine." Nami says.

* * *

Please leve reviews but no major flames!

Next chapter is the battle at the Baratie.

Chapter 9 09/08/14


	9. Chapter 9: The Baratie part 2

Hey my readers. Here is chapter 9 of Luffy and USS Iowa. This is the beginning of the battle with Don Krieg it will be either three or four chapters. Not sure yet.

Enjoy.

* * *

CHAPTER 9

One hour later

"Captain." Luffy hears in his ear. He stands and walks over to a corner.

"Yes Gunther?"

"Sir a ship has appeared on radar."

"Okay. You have that new ship?"

"Yes sir. Her name is the Black Pearl."

"What direction is the contact?"

"It is coming from the west. It is hidden in the fog."

"How big is the contact?"

"Yes but it is really small. We are switching over to the infrared for to look at the smaller ship."

"Oaky tell me what you see."

"Okay we see a dinghy size boat with one person on it sitting on a chair and we see candles burning."

"Candles? Crap that is Mihawk. He followed the Krieg pirates from the Grandline!"

"What? Seriously? Why would he come all the way to east blue?"

"I don't know. Go ahead and move to the next distance I said and be ready to start assisting since I know a fight for this ship is going to break out."

"Yes captain." Gunther says terminating the transmission.

Luffy walks back to his table and he looks at Nami. The massive galleon split into two halves, which fell into the sea. Luffy grinned. "I am right."

"Don Krieg! The ship! IT'S LISTING!" one of the Don Krieg pirates yelled.

"Listing? My flagship galleon! But… how could that be?" Zoro leaped up.

"Nami, Johnny and Yosaku were on the ship!" Luffy ran out to the outside, to see the two bounty hunter brothers paddling in the choppy surf.

"Brother! BROTHER!"

"Where are the ships!" Kuro ran out the other side, yelling to Django to weigh anchor, get out of the debris zone.

"The… the Going Merry… it's gone!" Yosaku cried, swallowing a mouthful of water. "Sister Nami! She sailed off with all the treasure!"

"WHAT!" Usopp screamed. Zoro looked at Luffy sharply. Luffy nodded slightly. Zoro nodded.

"Find a dinghy that we can commandeer. Get it ready to chase after her." Luffy looked out into the fog, where a silhouette was already forming. "But keep it tethered. I think Zoro still has some business to take care of here." Zoro's head whipped around and looked in the direction that Luffy was looking. A slow, feral grin crept up his face.

"Dat's him? The fiend who sank fifty ships, single handedly!" "The one who blasted Krieg's ship just now!" "He looks human enough… I don't see any special weapon…" the chefs muttered. Zeff shook his head, his braided mustache wobbling.

"His special weapon is on his back!" the entire assembly, sans Zoro and Luffy, flinched back. "Hawk-eye is a master swordsman. He is the greatest swordsman in the world!" the entire Krieg crew stared at the demon in human flesh. A nameless crewmember stood up.

"You monster! Why do you keep picking on us!" Dracule peered up at the man, silent for a few moments.

"For fun."

"FOR FUN!" the terrified man pulled out double pistols and unloaded the entire capacity at him. Dracule, with slow, deliberating movements, drew the giant sword on his back and swung it. The bullets shot harmlessly upward.

"What! You… missed!"

"No. shooting at him is useless." Zoro said from above the crouching pirates. "He deflected the bullets with his sword." He walked toward Mihawk. "Ive never seen such subtle sword work."

"What?!" Everyone in the restaurant yells except Luffy and Zeff.

"He is here?! He followed us?" Gin says.

"Who?"Sanji asks.

"We were on the Grandline when we met him. We were there for seven days and in those seven days he took out all 50 of our ships." Gin says shocking everyone.

"Who is he?" Patty asks scared.

"His name is Hawkeyes Dracule Mihawk." Luffy says.

"What Luffy how do you know?" Usopp asks.

"Because when I was in Shank's crew we ran into Mihawk and apparently he and Shanks are best friends and Mihawk also is a pirate warlord." Luffy says shocking all.

"He is a Warlord?!" Gin asks.

"You did not know? Yet you went to the Grandline?" Luffy asks shocked.

"We did not know." Gin says.

"How many warlords are there captain?" Merry asks.

"Including Mihawk? There are 7 pirate warlords." Luffy says shocking all.

"Mihawk!" Luffy yells gaining Mihawk's attention.

"Yes?" He asks.

"My first mate would like to challenge you to see how far he has to go to become the world's greatest swordsman." Luffy says. Mihawk jumps from his boat and lands next to Zoro. Luffy appears next to Zoro.

"Alright Reaper. I want to see how great a member of the Reaper can be." Mihawk says.

"Ohoho you know who I am." Luffy says smiling.

"Yes. Alright swordsman I will duel you." Mihawk says.

"The three-sword style! That's Zoro! That's Roronoa Zoro!" the Krieg pirates gasped at this new revelation.

"Pathetic. Weakling." Dracule leaped out of the boat and onto the galleon wreckage. "If you're a competent swordsman, you don't need to cross swords to know that I far surpass your puny skills. Does the courage to point that blade at me come from confidence… or from ignorance?" Zoro drew all three swords.

"It comes from ambition. And from a promise to a friend."

"How futile." Mihawk pulled the necklace from around his neck and uncapped the dagger inside.

"What's that for?" a vein in Zoro's head twitched.

"I'm not the kind of fool who hunts a rabbit with a cannon. You may have a reputation but you're still just a bunny." He shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, but this is the smallest knife I have." "Better take it easy with the bravado!" Zoro snarled and charged.

"YOU'LL FEEL STUPID WHEN I KILL YOU!" Mihawk merely stood there, fiddling with the small dagger in his hand.

""You're just a little frog, croaking in your puddle. Time you learned how big the world is." Zoro screamed.

"Oni GIRI!" Dracule merely stuck out the dagger and blocked the entire attack, holding all three swords pinned together. Zoro trembled, stuck with the fact that the greatest swordsman in the world blocked the unblockable onigiri. "RAAAAAAR!" Zoro whaled on Dracule, with the swordsman master blocking every single attack. With a flick of his arm, Zoro was sent flying.

"Such heavy-handed swordplay…" Mihawk said calmly as Zoro sliced endlessly against him.

"I came to win!" Zoro yelled as he continued his furious barrage. "I must defeat this man!" Dracule stared at him oddly.

"What drives you? Why do you fight so hard when you cannot win? You're a weakling…"

"OUR BROTHER'S NOT A WEAKLING, BUZZARD EYE!" Yosaku yelled across the water.

"I'll teach you a lesson. That man is-" Luffy grabbed the two's cloaks and yanked them back.

"Stay out of this , you two! This is his duel!" Luffy smashed their heads down, tears in his eyes because he already knew how this mockery of a battle would end. The greatest swordsman knocked away the pirate bounty hunter. Zoro leaped up.

"Tiger…" 'The greatest swordsman in the world! The pirate king needs him… he has to join my crew!' Luffy's voice echoed in his mind. "HUNT!" Zoro leaped forward… and was impaled on the dagger. Luffy bit back a scream as Yosaku and Johnny shrieked. Zoro stood there, impaled on the cross-like dagger. Dracule felt his confusion mounting. A drop of blood fell to the planks.

"You want your guts cut out? Why don't you retreat?" Zoro trembled.

"I can't… if I retreat even one step… my vow, my ambition… everything I care about… will be shattered. And all my dreams will be lost forever." Zoro said with a trembling voice, the sword in his mouth twitching with every word.

"Yes. That's defeat." Zoro chuckled.

"Heh. So I guess I can't retreat." Dracule's head cocked to the side just the tiniest fraction.

"Even if it means death?"

"I prefer death to defeat." Dracule Mihawk thought for one second, before withdrawing the dagger in Zoro's chest.

"Boy… speak your name."

"Roronoa Zoro." Dracule placed a hand on the sword strapped to his back.

"I'll remember it. It's been a while since I've met one so brave." He drew the obsidian ship-splitting blade. "I will honor the swordsman's code and send you to your death with this black blade – the finest in the world." The green-haired swordsman placed his fists together and started twirling them. "DIE!"

"Three sword style – secret move! THREE THOUSAND WORLDS!" the black blade sliced through the two blades like they were cardboard. Zoro sheathed his remaining sword and bared his front to the world.

"What are you…" Zoro smiled, blood running down from his mouth.

"Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame."

"magnificent." Dracule Mihawk grinned, and sliced Zoro open from shoulder to hip.

"ZORO!" Luffy screamed. "DAMN YOU!" Luffy started crackling with black whisps an electricity and the sky strte to darken as Luffy turned half water and black whisp and vanished and reappeared near Mihawk. "DAMN YOU!"

"The straw hat has the powers of the devil fruit!" the Don Krieg pirates gaped. 'He said that only devil fruit users could possibly survive on the grand line! He is one!' Zeff sucked in a short breath.

'That's no water man. Impossible…' "Two!"

"The young swordsman"s crewmate. You did well to let him fight his own battle to the end!" Dracule stepped to the side, and Luffy was crackling with electricity as well water and black whisps. Within seconds, Luffy was standing and glaring at Mihawk. "Don't worry. I left him alive." Luffy whirled around. There was Yosaku and Johnny on the supply boat, trying to revive Zoro. "My name is Dracule Mihawk! It's too soon for you to die." He called out to Zoro. "Discover yourself. See the world! And grow strong, Zoro! However long it may take… I shall await you at the top. Strive with your whole heart and mind to best this blade, fierce one!" "STRIVE TO SURPASS ME, RORONOA ZORO!"

"Brother! Brother, Speak to us!" Johnny and Yosaku attempted to stem the flow of blood.

"Lad, what's your goal?" Dracule Mihawk turned to Luffy who replies now calmed down.

"To be king of the pirates!" Mihawk smiled to himself.

"You tread a dangerous path. Even more perilous than trying to surpass me." Luffy stuck out his tongue.

"I don't care! That's what I'm going to be!"

"Say in a loud voice that you shall leave my crew and any crew under the command of Monkey D. Luffy alone. As a favor." Dracule smirked when Luffy jerked his head at the fearful looks from the crew of the self-proclaimed king of the east blue.

"Trying to gain subordinates, straw hat? That's an underhanded tactic of yours." He jerked his head up. "It would be poor honor to attack Roronoa Zoro while he is still working to defeat me! I shall leave any crew that sails under the captain of Roronoa Zoro, Monkey D. Luffy in peace!" the crew of Don Krieg muttered amongst themselves. It was just as the straw hat had said! The demon with hawk's eyes would leave them alone if they join him! The sound of a blade unsheathing alerted the master swordsman's attention.

"Lu-Luffy…? Can you… hear me?"

"I can hear you!" Luffy yelled over.

"Were you worried? If I fail… to become the world's swordsman… you'd be disappointed, right?" a spurt of blood cut off anything he was going to say after that.

"Brother!"

"Brother, save your breath!" the two brother bounty hunters urged.

"Never again! I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN!" the sword trembled. Dracule grinned. "From now to the day I beat him to become the greatest swordsman… I will never… LOSE AGAIN!" Luffy smiled. "Got a problem with that, king of the pirates!" Luffy couldn't help but laugh at the happiness he felt.

"Hee hee hee hee! Not at all!" Mihawk smiled softly.

"They make a good team." He turned and walked away. "I hope to meet you two again, someday Reaper… goodbye, king of the pirates…"

"Hey, Hawkeye!" Don Krieg stomped his foot to get his attention. "Didn't you come here for my head? For the head of Don Krieg, king of the east blue!" the swordsman shook his head.

"That was my intention. But now I've had enough fun for now, so I shall take a nap."

"Don't just go yet, fancy pants! You've had your fun, but I've only been on the receiving end." The crew scrambled away.

'You want to be on the recieving end? I will give you something to be concerned about being on the receiving end.' Luffy thinks as he lifts his wrist.

"d-d-Don Krieg!" a pirate screamed. "If the man wants to go, for the love of god, let him go!" the armored man ignored them.

"Now it's my turn to have fun! DIE!" Dracule placed a hand on his blade.

"You are indeed a slow learner."

BOOOOM!

With a downward slice Mihawk stops midswing at the sound. Next thing 9 large splashes appear destroying more of the remains of the galleon. "Farewell."

"Usopp! Set sail!" Kuro leaped in after the boat, and was quickly on board.

"I'll watch them, captain!" Luffy nodded. With a quick slice of rope, the sail was full of air, and chasing after the rapidly disappearing ship. "Get the cook to join, and we'll meet up with Nami!"

"RIGHT!" Sanji strolled up to Luffy's side, hands in his pockets.

"Here come the locusts." Luffy nodded.

"Try not to kill any of them. Don Krieg is the mastermind behind all of this. They're just following his orders. I've got a deal with them that if I can take out Krieg, they'll join up with me." Sanji looked over at Luffy.

"Hey. They don't like Krieg's policies. I played on their fear of Dracule Mihawk and the fear that Don Krieg will drive them right back into his grip." Sanji nodded.

"You're a devious little brat, Straw Hat." Luffy turned to Zeff.

"What is with that ship?" Zeff asks.

"It's mine." Luffy says surprising everyone.

The crew of Don Krieg exploded into a panic.

"What kind of ship is that?!" Luffy landed on the bow, a smug look on his face.

"What are they panicking about? It's just a ship. Right?" Sanji asks. Luffy shook his head.

"It is not just a ship." Sanji jerked his head up.

"What do you mean?"

"What Mihawk did. This ship can easily sink 100 ships by itsself." Luffy says shocking Sanji.

"Patty! Carne! Are you all right!"

"of course they're not all right! They were on the receiving end of my 'pearl surprise!'" pearl grinned. Luffy looked over at Sanji.

"oh, look. Another freak. And I thought that this crew would be relatively normal." Pearl continued, nonplussed.

"I'm Don Krieg's second mate! Invincible pearl! In over 61 battles to the death, I've never lost one drop of blood! and I'm handsome, too!" he smiled, his teeth shining like his namesake. "and I'm smoother than polished silver!" Luffy cracked his knuckles.

"you said that in sixty one battles, you've never lost one drop of blood. let's break that record, shall we?" Luffy charged in. pearl laughed.

"impossible! My defense is the best!" Luffy swung with a right hook, only to pull back and smash his right knee into Pearl's face. Both attempts were blocked by the pearly guards. "you may have made that deal with us, straw hat. But we are still loyal to the don! We will fight to the death for him!" he whispered as Luffy hung there, defying gravity for those few seconds.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Pearl pushed away the still-airborne boy as he finished his message. Luffy landed on his feet. Luffy looks up and smiles as a shadow appears.

Pearl looks behind him to see 3 16 inch deck guns pointed as well as 5 5 inch secondary deck guns pointed at him.

The crew of Don Krieg exploded into a panic.

"Pearl! It's okay!" Luffy landed on the fin, a smug look on his face.

"What are they panicking about? It's not like those guns can turn him to swiss cheese." Luffy shook his head. "Oh wait...It can. Fire!"

BOOOOOOOM!

The ship fires destroying part of the fin and Pearl is not seen anywere shocking everyone.

"Pearl!" The crew yells. The fin catches on fire and threatens to burn the restaurant. Luffy snapped his fingers. Four thick streams of water shot up out of the sea and latched onto where the fire was dousing the flames. Don Krieg gaped.

"What the hell are you!" Luffy blew on his hands.

"I ate the Mizu Mizu fruit. I'm a water man." Luffy's two arms melted, and reformed. Luffy breathed a sigh of relief. "Ahh, that's the good stuff right there." he looked at his palms. "Add that to the list of stuff this thing can do. Get rid of burns." Don Krieg growled.

"Damn you, straw hat!" with a whirl of his mace, an entire mast toppled down onto Luffy's skull. Luffy was smashed back into the timbers, crushed under the weight. Krieg leered. "You need to die."

* * *

Please leave any reviews.

Happy to answer any questions you have.

Chapter 10 09/15/14


	10. Chapter 10: The Baratie part 3

Hey everyone! Here is chapter 10 of Luffy and USS Iowa. The chapters are starting to be a little bit longer as I try to go into some detail of fights.

So enjoy.

* * *

CHAPTER 10: Baratie part III

"Of course. Everybody needs to die. I'm just not dieing for a long time." Luffy said as he materialized behind don Krieg. He prodded his neck with his scythe. "Checkmate, don Krieg."

"Straw hat!" Gin shouted. "Let my captain go!" he pointed his pistol down at the fallen Zeff, wooden peg leg in his hand. "I'll blow his brains out if you don't." he jabbed it at the head chef's head, although his hand was trembling slightly.

"Gin! Why, you…" Luffy nodded and stepped away from the pirate captain.

"Sanji, let it go. He's doing whatever it takes to defend his captain. I applaud that." he looked Gin straight in the eye. "I wonder though… does he have the courage to actually do it? Does he have the balls to splatter the brains of the man who literally saved his entire crew all over this deck? Because I would love to see him do that." Luffy grinned. "Do it, Gin. Prove to us that you are the 'demon man' of don Krieg's crew. Prove to us how you became first mate. Splatter his brains on the deck." Gin's hand trembled, before lowering just the tiniest fraction.

"DON'T TURN MY MEN AGAINST ME!" don Krieg screamed as the gun barrels rippled and fired at Luffy. He sighed.

"Mihawk was right. You are a slow learner." Luffy leaned back on the wood… and fell over the edge, into the dark blue waters of the sea. Almost immediately, Luffy breathed a sigh of relief. With a flick of his wrist, the water strands holding pearl in the sky disappeared, and the bulky man dropped into the sea with a mighty splash. 'There. Let them think that I'm dead." Luffy hummed a little tune, before shrugging. "Ah, well. Let's listen in." with a mere thought, his ear turned to water and floated to where it was on surface, and he began to listen. Almost immediately, the ear retracted. "Ah. Sanji's explaining his story. This could be a while."

"Yes. You seem to bring out the storyteller in people. Whenever you are around, people want to tell their story." Gold Roger formed in the water to the shock and surprise of Luffy. "I'll keep you company."

"R-Roger?" Luffy asks floating back a little.

"yep." Gold Roger looks up smiling. "I am here to share some training with you since you are the future king of the pirates.

"are you serious?!" Luffy asks.

"Yes, but I will pass all of my memories of my training and moves to you." Roger says floating up to Luffy and puts his hand on Luffy's forehead. Luffy has images and knowledge of Roger's life flows through his head giving him a headache.

"Ugh...hell my head hurts."

"Good. Now Luffy this is for you." Roger says producing an hourglass necklace. "This is not a normal necklace. This let's you travel through time." Rooger says shocking Luffy.

"Wait, wait, wait. Travel through time? As in I can travel to the past to fix a battle?"

"Yes, but it is also dangerous."

"If it is dangerous, then why are you giving it to me?"

"Because you are the ruler of the ocean. You can control it with your deil fruit but you could already control it, but you were unaware. You were born to rule the ocean just like how you were born to be the Grim Reaper or Death."

"Really? I did not know."

"That is because you vanished from this world which was suppose to happen." Roger says shocking Luffy.

"So what? Is my net new name Posideon?" Luffy asks laughing but sees Roger just smiling. "I am Posideon aren't I?"

"Aye lad you are."

"Seriously?!"

"Yes. Now here is a phrase you say when confronted by sea kings and merfolk. I have many names and I have no name, for they drift away with the currents. If you say that and ask for proof you create a whirlpool in your hand because only you can do it." Luffy nodded.

"So what now?"

"You train using my memories to understand how to be Posideon."

"Really?"

"Yes. That is the best course of action. Now, start paying attention. They should be about done up there with Sanji's speech. I will check in every once in a while." Luffy nodded, a sadistic grin on his face.

"Yeah! Let's see if we can get some of them to shit their pants!" with a snap of his fingers, a tunnel from his mouth to the surface opened up. He smirked.

"I will protect this restaurant to the death!" Sanji declared. Don Krieg snorted, before freezing when a voice echoed out of the water.

"Duuuuuhhhhh dun."" Luffy said, in a slow, ominous voice. "Duuuuuhhhhh dun."

"Straw Hat!" the chefs of the Baratie cried out. Zeff looked up from where he was pinned to the ground. 'The Straw Hat…"

"Duuuuhhhh dun. Duuuuhhhh dun." Luffy intoned, slowly increasing the speed. With slow, precise moments, the straw hat floated to the surface and started floating through the water. "Duuuuhhhh dun. Duuuhhh dun."

"YOU! DIE!" don Krieg screamed, shooting a flamethrower at the hat floating through the water. A dome of water shot up around the hat, protecting the precious item.

"Duuuhhh dun. Duuhh dun. Duh dun duh dun duh dun duh dun duh dun duh dun DAH DAHDAH!" the voice screamed as a tentacle-ish hand shot out of the water, flying right at don Krieg. Don Krieg smashed the grasping hand out of the way, and the hand instead latched onto a nameless member of his crew. With a horrified scream, the crew member was swallowed whole by the waters. The entire assembly was silent. The body of the pirate floated up to the surface, foaming at the mouth and petrified into a near-coma. The crew stared with horror at the body. "Duuuuuhhhhh dun."

The crew of don Krieg exploded into terrified screams.

"IT'S A SEA DEVIL!"

"THE STRAW HAT CONTROLS THE KRAKEN!"

"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" don Krieg yelled at the crew.

"STAND AND FIGHT, YOU COWARDS!" he whipped the giant mace down on the hat. The floating object swerved out of the way. With a swoosh, a water plume shot out of the water, depositing Luffy safe and sound on the fin of the Baratie.

"Straw hat!" Luffy tipped his hat to the chefs of the ocean-going restaurant. He then noticed pearl winding up for a punch.

"I thought I told you to go cool your heels, pearl." The tentacle-like strands of water shot out at pearl. The bulky man merely punched them head on as they disintegrated. "Damn! That's a good right hook there!"

"Damn! Your words are smooth as polished silver!" pearl wound up for his attack against Luffy.

"Step aside, pearl." Gin ordered as he swung his tonfa into pearl's cannonball-proof armor, shattering it into pieces. Pearl fell to the ground, bleeding from the mouth as Luffy tipped his hat to the newcomer.

"Glad to see you got involved, Gin."

"Gin, you swine! How dare you attack pearl!" Gin looked over at his captain.

"This man literally saved our lives. The least I can do is send him to the grave with my own hands." Luffy nodded.

"The mercy kill. He saved your life, so you won't drag out his death like pearl would have." He looked over at don Krieg. "Surely you have heard of this, Krieg?" Krieg growled. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Have you gone insane, Gin, commander of the pirate armada?" Gin shook his head. He turned to Sanji, who had lit another cigarette.

"I had hoped you would get off the ship, Sanji. I can see now that that's not going to happen."

"No. it's not." Sanji shaded his smoke against the wind. Gin twirled his tonfa.

"Then the best I can offer you is to kill you myself."

Sanji sighed. "Thanks you… eat worms." Gin twitched, but turned to Luffy.

"And you too, straw hat. You should have left with your mates." Luffy shook his head.

"Why? I can't lose to a bunch of wimps like you!" the crew in the water seized up in rage. "Besides, I made a bet with someone here that I could kick all of your asses!"

"These blokes are gettin' sassy-mouthed with our battle commander! First it's 'eat worms', and now the brat says he can kick our asses! We're don Krieg's pirates, the toughest marauders on the east blue!" Luffy shrugged.

"Eh. You guys favor quantity over quality. You're only strong because there's so many of you." the entire crew was sent flying by the massive 'slap' to their pride.

"You hit them where it hurts." Sanji muttered.

"'cause it's true!"

"WE&'RE GONNA START MASSACRING THESE COOKS NOW! WE'LL KILL 'EM TO DEATH!"

"Stand down!" the leader of the pirate armada shouted from across the water. "Getting worked up over being called wimps only acknowledges your weakness." He smirked. "The outcome will tell us who's strong and who's weak." Luffy nodded as the crew calmed down. "Boy. Of the two of us, who do you think is king of the pirates material?" Luffy smirked.

"Me."

"You just can't help yourself!" Patty screamed. The don's neck cracked.

"You dogs stay out of this." He grabbed the shoulder guard and pointed it at Luffy. "I'll show this dreamer of a kid what strength really is!"

"IT'S THE MH5!"

"P-please, Don Krieg, not that! Please, Don Krieg, let me kill the kid…"

"It doesn't matter by whose hand he dies. You know that above all, I detest sentimental tripe like 'honor' and 'mercy.' This is war! All that matters is victory! Winning is everything, even if it means using the poison gas cannonball!" the skull on the shield clunked open, revealing a hole just big enough for a single cannonball. Luffy stretches his hand and a black blob forms and a scythe rises up horrorfying the pirates since they reconie Luffy now. Zeff gasps and turns pale as a sheet.

"It's the REAPER!" They scream.

"Meh. Give it your best shot. Cannonballs don't work on me." Luffy says twirling his scythe. This only infuriated the man even further.

"DIE, YOU LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!" the cannonball fired out of the shield and straight at the floating restaurant. Luffy merely whistled a small tune while holding his scythe.

"Three… two… one…" Luffy swung his scythe and a black slash mark flie off the scythe towards the cannon ball. The slash catches the cannonball and cuts it clean in half and the two halfs fall into the water. He peered into the water comically. "Wait a minute! The fish wouldn't like getting poisoned!" Luffy makes the water toss the two halfs up into the air. "Dark Magnet." Luffy says and a black mist appears from his hand and the two halfs are sucked in then appears intact, on Luffy's index finger. He looked at Don Krieg. "Now, here's where things get fun!" Luffy grabbed his lower jaw and pulled, and the entire appendage popped off its hinge. "Loohk hwhat I chan dho!" he shoved the cannonball down his throat, swallowed, and popped his jaw back on. "Whew! That almost went down the wrong pipe!"

"What the hell!" the cooks stared at the man who literally, just ate a poison gas cannonball. Don Krieg shrieked in rage. Luffy grinned.

"Oh, I'm not done yet!" his arm melted into water, then reformed as a large, hollowed out tube. A massive bulge traveled across his body from his stomach to his arm, and into this strange tube. "Did you know, that if you can harness water pressure to a fine degree, you can use it almost to the same effect as a cannon?" Luffy grinned and cocked his arm. "I think you forgot something, Krieg! Why don"t I give it back?" Luffy stared at his arm. "FIRE IN THE HOLE! MIZU MIZU CANNON!" with an unholy boom, the cannonball fired out of Luffy's arm and into Don Krieg's face. Luffy's hand returns back to normal. "You should really get a face mask. Armor doesn't do any good if your face isn't covered up. Shuriken will really fuck with your looks without it."

"Straw Hat!" Sanji stared. Gin did as well.

"you just shot at Don Krieg, the strongest pirate in the east blue, before firing a cannonball out of your arm!" Luffy twirled his hat on his finger.

"Yeah." He grinned.

Don Krieg lowered his shield, a small trickle of blood running down his face.

"Gin! Kill the cook! The straw hat brat is mine!" Gin nodded before charging in to battle with Sanji. Luffy smiled.

"Very well. I'll give you a fighting chance." He leaped up onto the fallen mast and started running along it. Krieg merely held up his shield, and out opened a ring of holes inside. The self-proclaimed king of the east blue flicked a small bomb into the water. The bomb exploded, creating a veil of water. Luffy merely swept it away, as if wiping sweat from his brow. "That doesn't work on me!"

"DIE!" the ring of firing holes shot out striped stakes at him. Luffy shot up plumes of water from the sea, stopping each and every one in their tracks before being sucked into the sea. Luffy smirked.

"You're in my element. You can't beat me."

"YAAAAHH! GETTEM, GIN!" Luffy looked over at the two men brawling.

"You know what, Krieg? Let's postpone our battle. Let's watch our two crewmembers fight each other. That outcome isn't set in stone." Don Krieg attempted to continue to attack, but a cage of water shot out of the ocean and surrounded him. Luffy sat down beside him. "Don't even try to attack. This cage will immediately drown you if you do." Don Krieg growled. 'And you know what? Zeff didn't have any secret to surviving on the grand line with the devil fruit users. He was simply stronger than them, even with their power." Don Krieg seethed, and didn't say a word. "Not talking? Oh well!" Luffy leaned backwards, and a watery cushion formed. "y'know, this is the real reason that I love this devil fruit power: I can have the most comfortable cushion anywhere I go." Luffy watched Sanji and Gin fight.

"Oh, wow! Sanji got in a good hit right there! but-" Luffy winced. "Ooh, that's a broken rib for Sanji. Ouch, cigarette in the eye for Gin. He won't be using that eye for a while. And… damn, that's another couple ribs for Sanji." Luffy winced. "Your man Gin is pretty good. But mine is better."

Sanji and Gin stood facing each other, Sanji clutching his side, Gin spitting out blood in his mouth. Gin rushed in, swinging his cannonball-ended tonfa. With a wide swipe that Sanji easily avoided, Gin went rushing by.

"What! You missed on purpose!" Sanji brought his leg down on Gin's neck. "QUIT PLAYING AROUND!"

"I wasn't." Gin smashed the club-like bludgeons into the skirt-chasing chef's back. Sanji spat up blood and crumpled to the ground. Gin stood up, trembling. He gripped his tonfa harder. Luffy bit his lip. This was where the shit could hit the fan, and fast. Gin walked toward the prone chef, slowly swinging his tonfa.

"GIN WON! OUR BATTLE COMMANDER WON!" the Krieg pirates roared from in the water. Sanji rolled over, lying on his side.

'Cough' "you won, Gin. Do it. Finish the job." He whispered. Gin nodded. He swung the tonfa at the downed cook's head… and stopped centimeters away. Luffy let out a breath he didnt know he was holding in a sharp hiss.

"I CAN'T DO IT! DON KRIEG!" Luffy smiled. With a wave of his hand, the cage was gone. Don Krieg shot up. Like a rocket, glowering hatred at both Gin and the straw-hatted water-dark man. "I can't kill this man!"

"What did you say!" Gin clutched his face, trying to hold back the tears.

"'Cause I…"

"SAY THAT AGAIN IF YOU DARE!" Don Krieg roared at his battle commander.

"That was the first time in my life, that anyone was so kind to me! I… I can't kill this man!" Luffy beamed. Don Krieg shouldered his cannon-shield.

"Imbecile…"

"NO! DON KRIEG… YOU WOULDN'T!"

"You can't bring yourself to kill him? You disappoint me, Gin. I thought that you, of all my men, would faithfully execute the principles of Krieg's pirates." Gin slumped to his knees. "I named you commander of my pirate armada because of your strength and ruthlessness in the pursuit of victory. I believed that you were unsurpassed in these things!"

"I'm sorry, I would never betray you. And I don't regret anything I've done in your service. I respect your strength, and I thank you. But… this one person, I cannot kill! Is there any way, any at all…" he looked up, tears streaming down his face. "That this ship could possibly be spared!" Luffy smiled.

"The demon man has a heart. That will get him far in life." Krieg whipped his shield-cannon up, completely ignoring Luffy's words of wisdom.

"It's inexcusable that you, my most trusted officer, should refuse to obey my order! WHAT MADNESS HAS POSSESSED YOU!" the Krieg pirates panicked and whipped out the gas masks.

"AAAH! THE MH5!"

"Put your masks on!"

"THIS TIME IT'S FOR REAL!"

"Don Krieg!" Gin spread his arms wide. "These cooks saved our lives!"

"Drop your Gas mask, Gin." Krieg ordered his battle commander. "You are no longer part of my crew."

"What! But… don Krieg…"

"DROP THAT MASK!" Gin stared at the gas mask in his hand. Luffy growled.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you either!" Krieg whipped around and fired the stakes at him. With a yelp, Luffy jumped into the water and swam over to the fin, out of his range. Luffy glared at the man.

"Gin! Don't obey that pansy Krieg! I'm gonna clobber him!" Sanji had regained control of his body enough to turn his head to stare at the straw hat.

"Straw Hat…"

"DON'T BELITTLE DON KRIEG!" Gin shouted. "Don Krieg is the mightiest man alive. A runt like you could never defeat him." Sanji grabbed Gin's shoulder.

"Wake up, Gin! Your hero's trying to kill you!" Gin slapped his hand away.

"Of course. I'm a coward who let foolish sentiment get in the way of duty!" he tossed the gas mask into the water. "I DESERVE TO DIE!" Krieg immediately capitalized on the opportunity.

"DEATHLY POISON GAS BOMB! MH5!" the bomb shot out of the cannon-shield and at the Baratie. Luffy charged at two of the Krieg pirates.

"Mine!" he yanked their gas masks off as they dove into the water, no longer protected. Luffy charged at the two remaining men on the fin as the MH5 exploded into vapor.

The world stood still for five minutes as the poison gas hovered over the floating restaurant Baratie. The cooks resurfaced and looked around.

"The gas is clearing. What happened?" a sudden gust of wind blew through the area, and the green gas was dispersed. What the men saw shocked them into silence.

"Straw Hat! Get off of me!" Sanji struggled against the staw hated pirate's iron grip, alongside Gin, who was in the same position.

"STRAW HAT!" the cooks screamed. Luffy's skin was a sickly purple, and blood was leaking from his mouth. With a cough of blood, the captain of the Straw Hat pirates toppled to the side. Luffy placed a hand on his heart.

"Expel… gotta… expel…" Luffy coughed up blood. "It should… be in the… bloodstream now…" he clenched his fist, and a few drops of sickly purple liquids were sweated out of his skin, but no more would follow. Luffy looked up at the sun. 'Is this… the end…for Krieg now?' Don Krieg cackled.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The idiot's died for a man that was going to kill him! He's got little more than an hour left! This is true strength!" he cackled as the crew looked on in horror. Zeff looked on sadly.

"And there dies the last hope for our restaurant." The sky turned dark in an instant, with dark, ominous clouds rolling in from nowhere. The water turned choppy, roiling and boiling around the restaurant. Everyone heard lightning crackling from nearby. All look at Luffy who has electricity surging around him. Next a pillar of purple and black light shoots up to the sky from Luffy. Everyone covers their eyes from the light and debri. The light and wind dies and everyone looks an sees Luffy standing looking normal again.

"What!"

"Straw Hat!"

Luffy stretched his hand out and a purple pill appeared in his hand.

"Essence of MH5. Could be fun, having that." Zeff's eyes bugged out of his skull.

"How did you do that?" Zeff asks.

"When you are the Reaper you have other kinds of powers as well.

* * *

Chapter 11: 09/22/14

reviews are great of any kind.


	11. Chapter 11: The Baratie part 4

Hey everyone here is chapter 11.

* * *

CHAPTER 11: BARATIE PART V

"The Reaper? You're real?" Zeff asks pale. Luffy chuckles.

"Oh you bet. I'm real alright."

It was then that Don Krieg regained his voice.

"w-who are you! Do you know who I am!" Luffy looked up at the pirate lord, a demonic look in his eyes. The don's breath froze in his throat. The crew around him passed out, completely unconscious.

"I know that you are a fraud that wishes for the treasure of the kings. I cannot allow that." Luffy settled down into a strange fighting style, crouching down with his left leg spread out in front of him. "Come at me if you dare."

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" the don screamed as he fired the machine-gun stakes at the man in front of him, pure and unadulterated fear clouding any and all senses. Gin looked on in morbid fascination at the very first time that his captain truly seemed afraid. Luffy flipped around, kicking the boards beneath him. A thousand strands of water shot up out of the water, catching the flying stakes in midair. Quickly as they came, the stakes were gone, only for more to keep pouring in. the strands of sea continued to snatch them out of the air as easily and as fast as blinking, without a single projectile getting through this impervious defense. Don Krieg's eyes widened in horror as the machine gun sputtered out, out of stakes to fire.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!" Luffy looked up.

"I am… your worst nightmare." He looked at Don Krieg, who was frozen in place. "You said that I was a sea devil. You weren't too far from the truth." Don Krieg's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. Luffy cocked his arm. "Water Water PISTOL!"

WHAM! His fist smashed into the armor, glancing off harmlessly. Don Krieg looked down at the shining armor, before a nervous chuckle worked it's way up from his throat. Soon, that nervous chuckle evolved into full blown psychotic laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! It doesn't matter if you're the devil himself! You will never penetrate this armor!" the crew stared at their captain, who, from any way you looked at it, seemed to have been driven mad from fear. He had to be mad, to dare to laugh at this powerhouse in front of him. Luffy looked up, a dangerous glint in his eye. The breath in Don Krieg's throat caught.

"Is that a challenge?" Luffy grinned. "In that case, it would be rude of me to not fight to my full extent." He leaped over to Don Krieg, stretched out black arms flailing behind him. "Yami Yami BAZOOKA!" the attack sent the don flying onto a large piece of intact ship wreckage, the golden armor completely whole. Luffy grinned. "There we go. There's enough room here for me to go crazy on." Don Krieg cackled.

"Try all you want, devil boy!" Luffy wound up for a punch. Don Krieg merely flipped out his cape, revealing the spike-lined interior. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Try punching through this, devil boy!" Luffy merely smashed through the cape and into the don's face. The lord of the east blue fell to the deck, completely still. The crew stayed silent, already knowing where this battle was going, whether their current leader won or lost. The cooks of the Baratie, on the other hand, went wild.

"WHOOOO! The Straw Hat sent Don Krieg flying!" Sanji merely shouted at Luffy.

"Why do you try so hard! That man's too strong!" Zeff placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That boy will win this fight. This is a known fact. Look. Even the pirates know this." He gestured out to the silent marauders. "That boy has a power that boggles the imagination. He has apparently been trained by someone. But all of this pales to what that boy was born with." Gin looked up from where he leaned against the restaurant.

"What?"

"all of the weapons of Don Krieg, all of the bombs, all the men he commands… if those things are true strength… then the power that that boy has is true strength, as well." He snorted.

"There are idiots in this world, who, when they set their sights on en enemy, they will not rest until that enemy is defeated." Sanji looked up at the water-dark man whaling on Don Krieg's armor.

"Then…?"

"This battle is going to be a fight to the death. I like idiots like that." Gin looked at the dueling teenager, and at the determined look on his face.

"FOOL!" Don Krieg roared. He whipped off his shoulder shields, slapped them together and pulled out a wooden pole. With a loud SHINK! A metal triangle slid out of the compound. Don Krieg whipped around the massive battle spear. Luffy looked at the huge weapon, unimpressed.

"Okay, now I KNOW you're compensating for something. And quite heavily, from the looks of it." Don Krieg screamed as the chefs cackled with laughter. "Lemme see, what were you saying again? Getting worked up about something only acknowledges your weakness. I was right then!"

"DIE YOU SON OF A BITCH!" the don screamed as he sung the massive exploding spear at Luffy. Luffy grinned even wider. He swung a fist straight into the massive battle spear as the weapon exploded. Don Krieg cackled. "Two or three hits of this and you're dead, straw hat!"

"Oh is that a fact? And for the record I kind of am dead since I am the Reaper." Luffy spoke, materializing up from the boards. "That would probably be the case… if you could even hit me, that is." Don Krieg whirled about and slashed at the infuriating boy. The captain of the Straw Hat pirates merely leaped straight over it. "Miss something?" swing. Leap. "Missed again!" Don Krieg screamed and started swinging even faster. Luffy dodged them all while laughing. He jumped away and started dancing. "Can't touch this!"

"DIE YOU LITTLE FREAK OF NATURE! DIE, DIE, DIE!" the don lunged forward with the spear. Luffy met the spear halfway with his fist. The spear exploded into action. Don Krieg looked around. Luffy materialized silently behind him. He leaned in to his ear.

"Can't touch this." Don Krieg whirled around.

"GHAAAA!" he screamed. Luffy poked his spear.

"That's interesting. Mind if I borrow it?" he grabbed the spear out of his hands. "Thanks!" he swung the spear like a bat. "And it's a home run!"

"GIVE THAT BACK!" Don Krieg screamed as he whipped out his machine-gun shield again. Luffy looked over at him.

"Oh, you want it back? Here you go!" he chucked the spear at Don Krieg. The weapon exploded in his face as he screamed. Luffy picked up the smoking weapon and stared at the broken tip. "Darn. I went and broke my new toy." He chucked it in the water. "Ah well. It's done its purpose." He walked over to the smoking form of Don Krieg. He yanked him up on his shirt. "Nothing special."

"DIE!" Don Krieg slammed a fist into Luffy's stomach. He felt a slot open up. At the last second, Luffy remembered the flamethrower on his hand. He yelped and leaped away as a stream of fire shot out at him.

"Damn! I forgot about that!" Luffy stared at the one weapon the don had left. "How to get rid of that thing? That could be a lot of trouble for me. Fire evaporates water, after all! Oh wait I have another way." The don cackled.

"It is useless! You cannot defeat me!" Luffy threw his head back and laughed right along with the don.

"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Luffy looked at the platform again stretching a hand out "Dark Magnet." Krieg was pulled to the black mist and the flamethrower disappeared as well krieg's hand and he sarts to scream in pin and Luffy releases his hand to see it broken and bloody.

Luffy then punched Don Krieg who was sent flying out above the water.

"It's no use! This is the limit of your strength!" a loud CRACK! Drew his attention to his armor. "What! My invincible armor is breaking?" he then smirked. "But it's too late. You're dead, sea devil!"

"It's a trap! RUN!" Sanji screamed. The bombs all exploded, toppling the mast and sending massive plumes of water up to rain from the sky.

"STRAW HAT!"

Luffy couldn't move. A deep feeling of sleep was overtaking his senses. Wouldn't it be nice to take a nap right now… yes… a nap would be good… Luffy closed his eyes… and the rain poured over him. Luffy's eyes snapped open as the water splashed into his wounds, sealing them up. Luffy sprang up into the clouds.

"Mizu Mizu BAZOOKA!" he slammed his fists down into Don Krieg's splintering armor. The shards exploded around his face. Luffy grinned as the cooks went wild. "I WIN!" Luffy cheered in the air.

"YOU WISH, DAMN BRAT!" Luffy looked down.

"You're still alive? Can't you take a hint?" Don Krieg threw a net out at Luffy, ensnaring the boy. "Aw, crap." The don cackled insanely.

"You can't run away from this iron net! The sea is below us! It's clear who is the winner, hammer boy!" Luffy looked down at the man clutching the net. He grinned savagely.

"Aren't you forgetting something? I CONTROL THE SEA!" the don's eyes widened at his fatal blunder.

"NOOOOOOO!" the don screamed as the two plunged into the surf. As soon as Luffy touched the water, he was free. He grinned at the sinking don.

"Oh, no! I'm not done with you yet!" he teleported instantly to the don's side. "I haven't had my fun with you yet!" the don screamed a silent scream as Luffy began.

Sanji stared at the spot where the two had penetrated the sea. The silence was palpable as they awaited the victor. Suddenly, a massive waterspout formed and shot the massively bloodied don at the restaurant Baratie. The cooks cheered as the don flew.

"STRAW HAT WON!" the don continued his unconscious flight toward doom… before Gin pulled out his tonfa and smashed them into Don Krieg. The king of the east blue smashed once again into the water, rolling onto his back like a dead fish. Zeff stared at the silent pirate.

"I take it that means that you aren't following him anymore?" Gin shook his head.

"This battle has shown me what a madman Don Krieg was. And what a fool I was to follow him so devotedly." He shouldered his weapons. "I will no longer follow Don Krieg's every beck and call. I will no longer give my devotion so easily." Luffy sprang out of the water, riding in on a wave to the restaurant Baratie. He looked from the bloody tonfa to Don Krieg's body. He grinned.

"Good for you, Gin!" the former first mate smiled. He stared out at the Don Krieg pirates. "Pirates! I have defeated your captain! You know what this means!" the pirates looked at each other before they took up a chant.

"Captain Luffy! Captain Luffy! Captain Luffy!" Zeff looked at the immensely pleased look on the boy's face.

"You did some under the table dealings with them, didn't you?" Luffy said nothing. Zeff chuckled. "You're one devious little hired help, straw hat." Luffy then noticed a glaring problem with his new crew.

"Crap. They don't have a ship." He tapped his chin. "What am I supposed to do about that…?" he snapped his fingers. "That's right! Gunther got a ship." he walks towards the grey ship with Sanji following.

"What are you doing?"

"Shh! I"m busy! Gunther!" Luffy hissed. Some people on deck run to the edge.

"Yes captain?!"

"Gunther. Where is that ship you found?"

"Ah. She is moored on the port side of the ship."

"Okay. Bring her near the Baratie for the new crew."

"Aye captain." Gunther salutes running off with the four people with him.

Everyone sees some ils n the other side of the ship move and move around towards the Baratie. The ship stops at the fin.

"Alright here is your new ship. Her name is the Black Pearl." Luffy says and the pirates start swimming to the new ship.

Luffy stepped off the fin and placed his hands on the water and focused. The sonar beam he had sent out returned, and Luffy gasped.

"No. no fucking way!" he pushed on the sea again. Again, the same results. "It is! Of all the luck in the world!"

"What?" Luffy grinned.

"The Baratie is right above a scuttled ship. The most famous one of them all." Luffy stood up. "Stand back, Sanji, and watch this. You'll never see something like this in your life again." Luffy stepped out on the waves and dropped his arms, now completely limp. Slowly, ever so slowly, Luffy's arms began to sway. The waves around him stopped, before beginning to flow in time with his arms. Sanji stared with wide eyes as Luffy slowly increased the speed of his swaying. The waves grew in speed with him, swirling about the boy. Luffy lifted his arms and began to swirl them around. The crashing waves began to twist around each other, faster, faster. Zeff gasped.

"He's creating a whirlpool." Luffy twisted his wrists, and a mighty hole in the waves opened like the maw of a gargantuan beast. The blast of an organ sounded out as a ship rose out of the hole in the ground, returning to the land of the living from the bottom of the sea. As soon as the ship leveled out, Luffy blew out his breath, and the whirlpool simply stopped. No slowing, no crash of waves, just, stopped. Veins in his hand clenching, breath ragged, Luffy started walking on the waves to the ship. Sanji and Gin, along with the entire assembly of pirates and pirate-cooks gaped with wide eyes at the man who raised a ship from the dead. Luffy stepped into the gaping hole in the belly of the ship, and walked onto the deck.

"Behold! The Flying Dutchman!" Luffy spread his arms. He slowly walked into the captain's quarters, where the slow, mournful melody of a music box was drifting out. Luffy pushed open the door. "Davy Jones?"

"aye." The man at the organ turned around. Luffy stared with unafraid eyes at the man-squid in front of him.

"How is it possible? The ship of souls, scuttled?" Jones snorted.

"The gods found me wanting. They created a new ship of souls, a new ferry to the world of the departed. And as some divine comedy, they left me there, trapped on this boat, the curse of never setting foot on land still in place. I have been trapped on this ship for nigh on a hundred years. But that does not mean that news does not escape my ear." Davy Jones bowed. "Welcome back, my liege."

"You are human. Why do you call me liege? I have no sovereignty over you."

"Oh, but you do. To any man who sails the seas, you are their liege, lord." He stood upright. "You have freed me from that eternal torment. I and the Flying Dutchman are at your command." Luffy nodded.

"Very well. I would like to ask you if you want to join my crew and I wish to free you from your curse." He thought for a moment.

"Wait here." he walked out of the captain's quarters as the music box played on. Luffy sat down, cross-legged. "Kronos. I have need of your power. Free the man Davy Jones from his curse to sail the seas forever." A light breeze caressed Luffy's face. "Very well." He stood and walked back in. "it is done. You are free to leave the ship or join me." Davy Jones snorted.

"You are a fool. I can never leave."

"My god has lifted your curse. Leave through the hole in your ship if you do not believe me." Davy Jones peered at Luffy.

"… What was your name?"

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy." Davy Jones bowed.

"Thank you, my liege. I believe I will join you on your journey." the captain of the Flying Dutchman grabbed the silent music box and bowed. Luffy smiled. But stopped before leaving.

"I will give you 40 members of my crew to help repair the Dutchman and then 10 to help you gather a crew. You have a month. I will be at Coyashi island but if you can't reach us meet us at Loguetown." Davy Jones nodded.

"Alright my liege. I will gather a crew and join you at Coyashi Island or at Loguetwon." Luffy smiled and walked out of the quarters, over to the rail. Almost immediately, he swayed heavily. Luffy leaned on the rail and toppled into the ocean head first. Sanji watched as his head plunged into the surf. He immediately started stripping of his clothes. Zeff stared at Sanji.

"What are you doing?"

"Did you see the way he was swaying? I don't think he's going to resurface!" Sanji leaped into the water. Zeff smirked.

"Straw Hat… you've got your cook, hook, line and sinker." Zeff looked over his shoulder at Gin, who was back to leaning against the wall silently. "You do know that if the crew made a deal with Luffy to join him, they're going to need a captain. Luffy most likely has you in mind." Gin stayed silent, staring at the ends of his tonfa. Zeff sighed.

Sanji peered around in the clear waters, looking for the boy who had single-handedly saved the Baratie. 'Dammit. Where are you?' he looked in the direction of the ship. There! A flash of red! Sanji sped off towards the bright color he had seen. Almost immediately he was at the sinking Luffy's side. He looped his arm around Luffy's neck. He began to swim upward… before immediately noticing something horribly wrong.

'Shit! I can't hold my breath much longer!' Sanji thought. And indeed, the air inside his lungs was pushing, straining to get out. Yet Sanji was still submerged. The bright sun began to get fuzzy. 'Dammit… I refuse to die here…' Sanji closed his eyes…

"Boy. Wake up." A voice in the water shouted. Sanji opened his eyes, right before he was shot like a cannon for the surface. The two breached the surface like a dolphin and flew through the air, landing right next to the Baratie. Sanji looked around.

"What!"

"Eggplant. Get him on the fin." Zeff commanded. Thought of his mysterious savior were driven from his mind as Sanji dragged Luffy onto the boat. He immediately started pumping Luffy's stomach with his fist.

"Straw Hat! You can't die, you hear! You've got stuff to do, don't you? Hey, you can't just die! Straw Hat, say something… say something already! Straw Hat, don't die!" he screamed.

"Have you ever heard of...SHUT THE HELL UP! I'm trying to rest but it's hard when someone is shouting!" Luffy says with his eyes still closed.

Sanji stared, before sitting back down. He punched the unconscious boy in the face.

"Why you…" he smiled. "You're such a pain in the ass."

"Aye, that he is." The voice he had heard from earlier spoke. Sanji jerked his head around looking for the voice.

"Let's get him in a bed. It can't be good to just leave him hanging out here." Zeff jerked a thumb over at the unconscious Don Krieg.

"And what do we do with him?" Luffy grinned while asleep.

"Well, we could always turn him in for money. He IS worth seventeen million. That oughta pay for your roof in spades." Zeff laughed.

"Hahahahaha! That would only take about fifty thousand. What about the other sixteen million?" Luffy was quiet. "If you don't want it, then I could always take it with me." Luffy stood and ordere his crew to repair the Dutchman for Jones.

"Gin. Get your new crew ready to set sail once the Flyin Dutchman has been repaired. We'll be sailing towards Coyashi Island to meet up with the rest of my crew." Gin jerked back.

"The Flying Dutchman!" Luffy nodded.

"Aye. The ship of souls. It's now part of my armada and Davy Jones is the captain of the ship. He is going to gather a crew and join with us in a month." Gin swallowed the lump in his throat. He turned around to the pirates milling about in the water.

"You heard him, men! Get to boarding the Pearl!" the pirates straightened up in the water.

"Captain!" they all started swimming toward the ship. Gin looked over his shoulder at Luffy who looks at Zeff.

"You don't mind if we use pieces of the fin, to repair the Dutchman do you?" Zeff shook his head.

"It's beyond repair. The best we could do is recycle it into something like this." Luffy nodded. He walked into the restaurant.

"Then, no hard feelings?" Gin asks. Zeff shook his head.

"Don Krieg was a madman. You've started playing for the other team now. It would be rude to harbor feelings of ill will." Gin let out a breath of relief.

"That lightens my conscience quite a bit. Thank you." the newest addition to Luffy's armada walked into the restaurant, leaving the master chef to watch Luffy's crew from the huge ship work on restoring their new ship.

Luffy yawned as he sat up from the bed he was in. almost instantaneously, he felt the lack of weight on his head. "Ack! Where's my hat! Where's my hat!"

"Calm down. It's on the shelf." Sanji spoke, leaning out on the railing. Luffy breathed a sigh of relief as he placed it back on his head.

"Thank god. I thought I had lost it in the battle for a second." He looked around. "Where's Gin?"

"He's down helping your crew in restoring the ship that you raised. They're almost done, too." Sanji pointed down to the band of pirates milling about the Flying Dutchman. "You've been out for five days. You've got some freakishly powerful stuff, straw hat." Luffy nodded.

"You know, I just realized something. I kicked them all out, so I guess I'm off the hook with the work thing."

"congratulations." Luffy nodded.

"My offer still stands, you know."

"I'm not going. I don't want to be a pirate. I'm staying here to be a cook, until the crap-geezer acknowledges my cooking skill." Luffy nodded, a sad smile on his face.

"That's a real shame. You could have been great as our cook." He smiled. "You know, I'm not sure that you could have joined anyways." Sanji looked over his shoulder at Luffy, curious. "All of my official crew have huge dreams of theirs, and, well, you don't seem to have anything. I'm going to be the king of the pirates, Zoro wants to be the greatest swordsman, Nami wants to draw a map of the world, and Usopp wants to be a brave warrior of the sea… and, you? Nothing. You just want to stay with this restaurant until you die, always in the shadow of your boss." Sanji was silent. Luffy walked over to his side, just staring out at the sea. Sanji turned to Luffy, a smile on his face.

"Hey! Have you ever heard of 'all blue'?" Luffy grinned.

"All blue! The sea cook's paradise! The place where all the ocean's fishes converge! One of my greatest nakama had a dream to find it!" Luffy looked down. "He died in an ambush." Sanji looked away.

"I'm sorry." Luffy looked up and grinned.

"It's okay. It's my fault for thinking of something so morbid!" he looked away before turning again. "Hey! Your dream is to find the all blue?" Sanji nodded, the smile on his face getting wider. "I know where it is!"

"You do!" Sanji leaned in. "where! Where is it?"

"My friend from before worked it out! According to his calculations, the all blue is at the end of the grand line!" he leaned in further. "The island Raftel, where One Piece is, is smack in the middle of the All Blue. If you find Raftel, you find the All Blue!" Sanji leaned back on the railing, a radiant grin on his face. Sanji twirled Luffy around before leaping in the air, a laugh bursting from his lips.

"HA HA! It exists! It exists! It really exists!" Zeff looked down from the balcony above them, a small smile on his face.

"He looks so damn happy." He chuckled. ""Idiot."

Luffy peered into the dining hall, all the chefs of the Baratie sitting down and eating. Sanji immediately saw a problem.

"Hey! Where are we sitting?"

"We ran out of chairs." One of the cooks spoke. One next to his elbow snickered.

"Eat on the floor, the floor." Sanji quirked an eyebrow.

"No seats? How is that possible? This is a restaurant, for crying out loud!" Luffy merely grabbed a plate and began ladling himself food. Sanji sighed and grabbed his own food. "Oh well…"

"They're planning something." Luffy said as he looked at Zeff. He winked. Zeff chuckled.

"It's what they always do." Patty took a loud sip of the soup and slammed the spoon down on the table.

"Oi! Who made the soup this morning!" Sanji smiled and waved his hand in the air.

"It's me! Me! Pretty good, eh? Today's is even more exceptional!" Patty began vehemently wiping his mouth with his arm.

"I could hardly swallow this piece of crap! It's only fit for pigs!" Patty spat twice at Sanji. Sanji's face darkened as he visibly started trembling with anger. He slowly pulled himself onto his feet as Luffy watched the entire spectacle, shoving chunks of meat into his mouth with both of his forks.

"Hey. You never tasted 'human' food before, crap-cook?" he finished as if swearing.

"You're turning this awful cooking into an art form. I'm about to puke!" Patty spat out the taste once more. Sanji slowly started walking forward, the evil look on his face never leaving.

"Excuse me, but I'm very confident in what I made today. Is there something wrong with you tongue?" Carne scooped up a spoonful of the soup, slurped it down, wiped his mouth off… and spat it out.

"It's disgusting!" he slammed the spoon down.

"I can't take this at all!" he spat out the taste. "Right everyone!"

"How can we take this?"

"The soup's super horrible!"

"We can't drink up this crap!"

"This is just awful. Can someone get me some water?" Sanji snapped.

"What are you bastards up to!"

"You're a phony assistant chef. You've just been here the longest, that's all." Patty responded, an angry look on his face.

"We're tired of your violent behavior!" one of the chefs said.

"It tastes so bad, we just had to say it out loud." Sanji began twitching.

"What did you say!" Zeff calmly took a sip of the soup.

"We're cooks of the sea. We can't afford to waste a single drop of soup." Zeff slowly scooped up the last of the soup and drank it up. As soon as he was finished, he stood up and threw the dish at the floor, shattering it into pieces.

"Boss!" the chefs screamed. Luffy continued watching, knowing where it was heading as he took a giant bite of squid and chewing it.

"What's with this disgusting soup of yours?" Zeff questioned. "Do you want put this restaurant out of business or something?" Sanji ran up and grabbed Zeff by the collar and began shaking him.

"Stop kidding around, crap-geezer! Tell me what makes my soup and yours any different! Tell me!" Zeff scowled.

"My soup and yours?" he smashed Sanji in the face with his fist. "Don't be so conceited!" the assorted chefs gasped.

"Boss punched him! He didn't kick him, he punched him!"

"You're one hundred years too early to compare to me, little eggplant! For I am the man who has cooked on all the seas, all over the world!" Sanji leaned up, clutching the side of his face. The two stared at each other before Sanji stood up and ran out the door.

"Dammit!" Luffy slowly stood up and walked over to the pot of soup.

"Well, since you guys obviously don't like the soup, can I have it all?" he winked at them. "Or were you all just faking it?" Zeff did not laugh.

"The soup is indeed delicious. Sanji's cooking is revered by everyone here."

"The soup's not bad at all."

"Yeah, it's well made."

"Man, that was scary. He seemed pretty mad back there."

"Yeah, he was." Luffy grabbed the ladle and poured the contents into his mouth, skipping the middle man of the bowl.

"But if we didn't pull this off, he'd never leave. That idiot brat." Zeff spoke. Luffy peered over his shoulder and saw Sanji's face in the porthole of the door. "Hey, kid!" Luffy looked up.

"You want me to take him with me, right?" Zeff nodded. "I know. You told me when I just got here, remember?" Zeff chuckled.

"Yes, when you busted a hole in my roof. You were pretty convincing back then. And you haven"t changed that one bit. I want you take the little eggplant of ours with you." Patty chuckled.

"You see, our boss is a bit of troublemaker." Carne grinned.

"I was worried for a second with your crappy acting." Patty laughed.

"Not to mention yours. More soup, please!" he shouted.

"Me too! Me too!" Luffy saw Sanji slump to the ground behind the door. Luffy motioned at Zeff, before jerking a thumb at the door. Zeff immediately understood. Luffy motioned to continue. Zeff grinned.

"How 'bout it, kid?" Luffy shook his head.

"I can't."

"WHAT!" the chefs screamed.

"Why? You need a cook on your ship, he's one of our best cooks, he's a damn good fighter, and you two seem to get along well. So why can't you bring him along? Is it that you suddenly don't like him?" Zeff rolled his eyes towards the door. Luffy grinned.

"God, no! Sanji's the best! I dearly wish that I could take him with me. But he said that he wants to stay here and be a cook. I could take him with me by force, but then that would leave a sour taste in my mouth if he ever actually fed us. Or even talked us. I can't take him along, even if you guys want me to. He's too devoted to this restaurant." Zeff began stroking his braided mustache.

"So, you're saying that you can't do anything unless he says 'yes'?" Luffy nodded.

"Exactly. I want a refill." He held out his plate.

"Yeah, that's probably best. But that stupid kid, will he actually admit that he wants to go?"

"Not a chance. He's a stubborn son of a gun." Patty put in his two cents. Luffy nodded.

"And that's a damn good thing to have when you're a pirate. Persistence is the greatest thing when you're a pirate, who are dream-chasers of the greatest kind. Seconds please!" Zeff took his plate. Luffy immediately stood up and motioned swiftly. "Get away from the door! There's a shark heading this way!" he whispered. The cooks scrambled away fast, as they had seen what the kid knew about water. And not a second too soon, for the door burst in, tearing it and the surrounding wall away. When the dust settled, Sanji was laying spread eagled on the ground, floored by the shark carrying Yosaku. Luffy immediately walked up to the shark.

"Thank you, shark. Your work is done." The shark's eyes widened. Luffy pried open it's jaws in the interim and pulled Yosaku out. He then picked up the shark and tossed it out into the open sea. Zeff stared.

"Did you just… speak to the shark?" Luffy nodded.

"I speak shark and can speak with sea kings." The entire assembly sweatdropped, excluding the two knocked on the floor. "Get Yosaku some towels. He's been in the water for a long time, and he's probably got a mild case of hypothermia." One of the chefs scrambled off. Luffy grabbed a chair and put the bounty hunter on it. He slapped Yosaku's face repeatedly. "c'mon, Yosaku. Stay with me. Don't go to sleep." the towels arrived, and Luffy wrapped one around his shoulders.

"th-thanks, Luffy." he said gratefully. Luffy nodded.

"Don't mention it. Is Nami located?" Yosaku shivered.

"We, we didn't catch up with her, but, judging from her direction, we roughly know her destination." Luffy nodded.

"You came back to get me because it's really dangerous, right?" Yosaku nodded. Luffy stood up. "All right. You did well. Let's go." Yosaku threw off the towel and the two began to walk out the hold in the wall. Sanji finally lit his cigarette in one try.

"wait." He said. Luffy turned around.

"Yeah? Are you going to follow your dream now?" Sanji stood up.

"All of us hold on to foolish dreams." Luffy nodded.

"But that holding onto a dream is what makes us men. The willingness to chase that dream to make it become reality." Luffy looked Sanji in the eye. "Are you ready to chase your dream, Sanji? Are you ready to risk it all in order to find your dream? The All Blue?" Sanji nodded.

"Yeah. I'm ready." The grin on Luffy's face was contagious.

"Well, then, welcome aboard, Sanji!" he held out his hand. Sanji grabbed it. "It's good to have you with us!"

"We got a cook! We got a cook! We got a cook!" Yosaku yelled joyously. He and Luffy began leaping around happily. Sanji turned to look at the assembly of cooks.

"Well, that's it, people." He grinned. "I gave you a lot of trouble, didn't I?" Patty scoffed.

"Man, you piss me off. I wanted to throw you out of here myself. But now things turn out to be easy." Sanji looked on, nonplussed.

"Well, I'm sorry… that's what you get for putting on such an appalling performance." Patty gave a start.

"Wh-what! You figured us out!"

"You couldn't be any more transparent. You're all morons."

"What?" Patty pulled up his fists.

"So, you guys really want me out of here, eh? Eh, crap-geezer?"

"What's with that foul mouth of yours!" Zeff put out a hand to stop Patty from going after Sanji.

"That's right, you little eggplant. I hate kids! I regret every passing day that I let you live, ungrateful kid." Sanji laughed once.

"Well, that's nice, crap-geezer. Now you can just sit back and relax the rest of your life." The words that were spoken were harsh, but the unspoken words said millions in the kinship they all had. Luffy smiled.

"That's everybody. Now, for the grand line! To destiny!"

* * *

Chapter 12 09/29/14

don't be afraid to leave reviews unless they are flames than don't bother.


	12. Chapter 12: Race to Nami

Hey everyone sorry for the late post, but here is chapter 12.

* * *

"whoa! Nice ship there! are we useing it?" Yosaku exclaimed. Luffy nodded.

"it's name is the Iowa." Yosaku shook his head and leaned to the cook.

"Luffy says the repairs are done on the Dutchman. Why don't we use it?" The cook nodded.

"that makes sense. It would be a shame if he raised that thing up only for it to sink again!" the two shared a laugh at that.

"Because that ship will be gone for a month as Davy Jones gathers a crew for her." Luffy says.

"aren't you done yet?" another chef complained as Luffy held open the bag of food.

"nope! More meat, please!" the chef grabbed a hunk of veal and placed it in the bag."how long are you going to be sailing?" Luffy shrugged.

"I dunno. I'm not close enough to the water to tell." The distinctive CLACK! Of wood striking the floor alerted Luffy to Zeff's presence.

"hey, kid!" he held out a brown book, obviously quite old. The logbook of Zeff's crew. "you want this?" Luffy shook his head, grinning.

"nope! We've got a better guide than that!" Zeff grinned.

"thought so." He turned and walked away. Luffy immediately whirled around and pointed at a prime slice of beef.

"I want that frozen beef right there!"

"can't you cut it out already!" Luffy pouted.

"fine. Be that way!" he grabbed the drawstring on the bag, pulled it tight, and hoisted it over his shoulder like it was nothing. With that, he walked out the kitchen. He plopped the food into a boat. He noticed Gin out of the corner of his eye. "Oi! Gin!" his new crewmate turned.

"yes, captain?" Luffy gestured for him to move closer. Gin walked his way. "what is it?"

"you ready to captain the Pearl out to sea. " Gin nodded. "what I said during the battle was true, every step of the way. The only reason that you are so powerful is because you have strength in numbers. That will not cut it with me. I do not accept quantity, I accept quality. Either get your men strong, or I will lock you all up at the marine base there."

"very well." Gin started walking off.

"Gin! Where are you going?" Gin turned around. "you're staying with us! Pearl was the second mate, right? So, now he's the first mate! Have him captain the ship to Loguetown, and you come with us!" Gin nodded.

"very well. I shall tell the men the news." He walked off. Luffy leaped over onto the small boat. Gin returned shortly. "it is done. They will meet us in Loguetown. Err… why Loguetown?"

"because it's the closest town to the Grand Line. We can meet up there, and then pass on." Luffy looked at the door to the restaurant. "Sanji's sure taking his sweet time saying goodbye to the restaurant." Just then, as if inspired by providence, Sanji stepped out of the doorframe, a bag sluung over his shoulder and a case of knives in his hand. He looked at the massive assembly of cooks clearing a line to his ship. Sanji took a step forward.

"THIS IS PAYBACK FOR ALL THE STUFF YOU'VE DONE TO US!" Patty screamed as he leaped out with a giant spoon, along with Carne.

"PREPARE YOURSELF, SANJI!" he yelled as well. Sanji merely dropped his things and did a handstand, and the cooks missed him by a huge margin. Sanji twirled around, feet extended, and the two vengeful cooks were sent flying.

"I told you you couldn't beat him." Sanji continued his silent march down the aisle of cooks. Nobody spoke. Nobody needed to. Everything that needed to be said, already had been said. Luffy nodded.

"alright. Let's get going." Sanji placed his things into the boat.

"Sanji!" Zeff yelled out. The breath in the blond cook's throat caught, and a lump he couldn't dislodge formed. "you take care of yourself." Luffy smiled as slowly, tears began rolling down Sanji's face. Luffy nodded. Sanji whirled about and fell to the floor.

"BOSS ZEFF!" he cried out. "Thank you! for everything you've done for me!" the tears would not stop pouring out. "I will never forget you, for the rest of my life!" Sanji continued to grovel there, crying as a stray tear rolled down his mentor's face. A heart-wrenching sob drew Sanji's attention to Patty and Carne, who were bawling their eyes out.

"I'll miss you, you bastard!" Patty sobbed.

"We'll miss you, alright!'' Carne added. Sanji looked around at all of the cooks of the fighting restaurant Baratie, who were all in various stages of losing control of their tears. Zeff managed to wipe away his own sorrow.

"You idiots! Men should say their good byes silently." Luffy grinned as he helped the sobbing cook onto the boat.

"Alright! Let's go!"

"'Till we meet again, you freakin' bastards!" Sanji shouted after they boarded the Iowa.

"All hands raise the anchor! All engines ahead half!" Luffy shouted.

"Aye captain!" The crew responds before running off.

The cooks watch as the starboard side anchor rose. They then saw smoke come out of a funnel at the ship's midsection. The Iowa starts to move through the water. It gives a loud long blast of it's horn.

Sanji waves to the rapidly retreating restaurant. The cooks cheered after Sanji as he waved at them furiously. Zeff grinned madly.

'If they keep that determination and refusal to die, they will find all blue. Until we meet again…' He straightened up. "Alright men! Customers will be flooding in soon! Get back to work!"

"Do you need a moment, Sanji?" Luffy asked as Sanji continued to quietly sob. He nodded silently. Luffy grabbed Yosaku by the scruff of his neck and dragged him into the kitchen, giving the Straw Hat's new cook time to bawl his eyes out.

"Okay, Yosaku. Where is Nami headed?" Yosaku shivered.

"To Arlong Park." Luffy nodded.

"Alright. Then I know where to send go." Luffy walks for the bridge followed by Yosaku.

"Captain on the brige!" A sailor says with all saluting and Luffy returns it.

"Full speed ahead. Set course for Coyashi Island."

"Aye captain." the crew says returning to their posts.

"What is with this ship?" Luffy grinned.

"I will explain but when we have everyone." Yosaku nods is head.

"So how long to Coyashi island?"

"Four hours."

"Wow I'd have thought it would be longer."

"It is."

"What do you mean?"

"In a ship with sails it will take a day and a half."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"I-impossible…" Luffy grinned even more.

"It's true! I have a current also pushing the ship."

"What?"

"I can control the sea." Luffy says as he melted his arm. Yosaku screeched.

"Your arm fell off!" Luffy reformed it. "Such power…"

"Yep!" Luffy looked out the door. Sanji was already composing himself. "Alright, Sanji looks like he's okay. Let's get this all over with." Luffy dragged Yosaku back out. "Sanji! You okay now?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." He answered. Luffy nodded, before breaking out into a beaming smile as he leaped into the pounding surf. Sanji gaped and began to take off is clothes to dive in after him, but Luffy leaped out of the surf like a blue marlin broaching the waves in the fading sun. Luffy continued this while laughing the entire time. He finally jumped back onto the boat, grinning. "Sorry about that! But I'm so damn happy! I've finally got a cook!" he jumped onto the front deck gun. "To the Grand Line!" he pointed off in a random direction. He then scratched his head sheepishly. "Wait, we need Nami for that. We'll go get her, and then…" he pointed off in a different random direction. "TO THE GRAND LINE!"

"Nami-san!" Sanji cupped his face as he blushed faintly. "Just thinking about her inexplicable beauty makes my heart jump for joy! I sure would like to see her sometime soon!" Luffy felt his stomach twinge as Sanji said those words. He looked down.

"Hmm…? What was that?" he shrugged. "Ah, well. Sanji! Make us some food!" Yosaku smacked his knee.

"You're too naïve! Way too naïve! Don't you get it! We're getting closer and closer to Arlong's base!" Luffy nodded.

"The biggest bounty in the east blue, the former crewmember of Jimbei's pirates, a hellishly strong merman, I know." he grinned. But that doesn't change the fact that we're still going after Nami!"

"You don't get it! Nami-aniki's going after the twenty million on Arlong's head! For all we know, while we're taking it easy here, she could have snuck into Arlong's base!" Luffy doodled a picture of a fish with legs. He showed it to Sanji.

"Look! A merman!" Sanji had to cover his mouth to stifle the snort of laughter. Luffy looked over at the bounty hunter. "And no, Nami's not trying to go after Arlong's bounty, though she would probably dearly love that. Nami's part of Arlong's crew!" Yosaku tripped mid-pace and went sprawling across the deck. Sanji immediately had hearts in his eyes.

"Mellorine! Nami-san is part of a merman crew! Perhaps she's a mermaid too! She's certainly cute enough!" that comment set off yet another twinge in Luffy's gut. Yosaku screamed.

"Nami is part of Arlong's crew! How long have you known!" Luffy looked over his shoulder.

"Since the very first day I met her. She said that she hated pirates, I wanted to know why, she clutched her arm, I ripped off her sleeve, bam! She one of Arlong's men." He waved his hands placatingly at Yosaku, who was screaming his head off at Luffy. "Hey, hey, hey! She's not one of his pirates willingly! She got press-ganged into service!" the look in Yosaku's eyes did not fade one bit.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gin snorted.

"That's a personal matter of deep resentment for her. It would be a violation of her trust if he told even a single soul." Luffy gave a start and whirled around to behind him, where Gin was leaning against the deck gun.

"Gin! How long have you been there? Weren't you supposed to be with the Pearl?" Gin shook his head.

"No, you told me to come with you to Arlong Park. You told me to tell Pearl to go to Loguetown." Luffy scratched his head, confused.

"Really? I could have sworn..." he shrugged. "Ah well. It'll work out. But Gin's right. It would have violated her trust in me if I told anybody about her involvement with the Arlong pirates. She's deeply ashamed with her affiliation with them." Yosaku shook his head, becoming more and more frustrated with the captain's blatant disregard of all the important facts.

"That's not the point! Nami betrayed us!"

"I knew from day one that she would eventually betray us." He grinned. "And you know what? From day one, I knew that we would chase her down and get her back. Because she really loves this crew, you know?" he waved off Yosaku. "I know what I'm doing. If you don't like it, then hop off the ship. Sanji, make me some food!" Sanji nodded.

"Yeah, it's about lunchtime." Luffy whooped.

"Alright! Make me some meat! On the bone!"

"Some fried beans for me!" Sanji looked at Gin.

"And what do you want, Gin?" Gin chuckled.

"Some sushi would be excellent." Sanji nodded before walking off to the kitchen having Luffy show the way. Luffy then sat himself down in a cross-legged position and stretched out his consciousness. Slowly, a figure started to rise out of the water. With agonizing slowness, it formed into a copy of the rubber man. Luffy breathed out.

"Man! I still can't get it right!" he shrugged. "Ah well. It'll still serve my purposes." He closed his eyes again, and the clone of Luffy bounded of across the water. Gin stared after the fleeting figure.

"What was that for, captain?" Luffy sat down on the bow of the boat.

"I sent that clone of mine after Zoro and the others. It can't act on its own, since I haven't figured out how to do that yet, but I can project myself into it easily." Luffy closed his eyes, and breathed outwards. With that breath fleeing his body, so did his consciousness, as it chased after the fleeting figure on the waves. Gin sat down beside him.

"Ah, well. Lunch isn't going to be ready anytime soon." Gin picked up the same position as Luffy, and breathed out. The two just sat there, very close, and yet they couldn't be farther apart.

Luffy blinked his eyes and looked around. He looked down at his hands, and at the rolling waves.

"Looks like I'm in the clone's body now." He grinned as he sank down a bit into the water. A hollowed out tube rose from the water. "Fire in the hole! Mizu Mizu CANNON!" Luffy flew out of the tube of water like he was indeed shot out of a cannon into the air. He peered around with the clone's eyes. "Hmm… they can't be too far ahead… then again, they do have a five-day head start…" Luffy dipped back down towards the waters. He waved his hand mid-flight, and another water cannon formed. Luffy sank right into the middle of the cannon as it twisted around. "Fire in the hole!" the cannon fired, and Luffy was once again in the air. He grinned. "Now, this would be fun even if I wasn't doing anything important, I don't care who you are!"

And so it continued, Luffy either soaring through the sky or preparing to once again, until he finally caught sight of a white sail.

"Bingo!" he grinned as he continued on his crash course towards the boat. With a dramatic laugh, Luffy plunged into the waves beside the boat. Usopp yelped. Kuro stood up and bowed.

"Hello, captain. So nice of you to join us." Luffy stood up on the waves.

"It's good to be here. Can you give me a status report?" Kuro nodded.

"We are within a day's sailing of Arlong Park, if the wind and tides are generous. We are currently formulating a plan of action for securing Miss Nami." Luffy nodded before jumping in the boat himself. Zoro peered at Luffy.

"…you're not the real Luffy, are you?" Usopp scrambled backwards.

"UWAAAAA! A clone! Somebody cloned Luffy!" Luffy laughed.

"Yeah, I'm just a clone." Usopp screeched. "But Luffy's listening right now! He's controlling me, so treat me like you would treat Luffy." Usopp breathed a sigh of relief. Zoro nodded.

"Alright. Kuro, you had a plan?" the former butler pushed up his glasses. Luffy watched him do that.

"You know, we should really get you some new glasses. It would be bad if they fell off during a fierce battle." Kuro nodded.

"Thank you for your generosity, captain, but that is neither here nor there. Right now, we have Miss Nami as the priority, not my own person. Now…" he pulled on a bladed glove and pulled out a piece of paper. It was revealed to be a map of the coastline. He stabbed at one part. "This is Arlong Park."

"Ugly thing, isn't it?" Kuro ignored Zoro's comment.

"Frankly, right now we don't have the intelligence or the firepower to take out Arlong head-on. It's possible that we could right now, but that would only lead to someone being irrevocably hurt. We either need to go to one of the villages…" he stabbed at various points of the map with his pointer finger. "And gather Intel from there, or…"

"We let somebody be the bait. Let Arlong take them into his clutches, and take them out from the inside." Luffy finished. Kuro nodded.

"Why can't we do both? That way, if one plan fails, we still have another waiting in the wings." Kuro nodded.

"Yes, that seems to be the logical course of action. The only question is, who is doing what?" Luffy looked over at Zoro.

"I think Zoro should be the one that infiltrates Arlong's base. He's powerful, which will be useful in the event that things come to a fight, he knows how to keep his mouth shut, which will help his self-preservation, and best of all, he's severely injured. Nobody will suspect a man with an injury that big of trying anything." Zoro shook his head.

"I'm sure as hell not going in there on my own with only one sword without backup. I say Kuro joins me as bait." at Luffy's questioning look, he elaborated. "He's apparently handy with a blade, if his gloves are anything to go by. I'd feel better with another swordsman at my back."

"Why can't Luffy just go with you? I mean, he IS right here…" Usopp suggested. Luffy shook his head.

"I'm just a clone. And I can't do anything on my own. Luffy has to control every move I make will all of his concentration. If he controls me, he's leaving his own body completely defenseless. I can't come with Zoro." Usopp slumped. Kuro nodded, pushing up his glasses.

"Very well. Zoro and I will be bait for the mermen while Usopp and Johnny retrieve information about their operation. There is no complaint with this plan?" everybody nodded. Kuro stood, rolling up the piece of paper. "Very well, then. This meeting is adjourned." Luffy's clone nodded and melted away.

Luffy's consciousness snapped back to its original body, and the pirate rocked backwards on his butt.

"Whoa! Never tried that before!" he rubbed his head. "So, the details are all ironed out." He massaged his temples. "Man that gives you one heck of a headache…" he looked over to his side to see Gin sitting beside him in a cross-legged position. "Gin! What are you doing there?"

"I am meditating." Luffy quirked an eyebrow.

"Really? Never pegged you as the spiritual type."

"It is how I dealt with all the killing I did in Don Krieg's name. I sorted through all of those that died by my hand, and I asked myself: was there a good reason for killing them? If there was, then I let that person go. If there was not, then I find some way to do them penance. Otherwise, their faces will keep haunting me." Luffy nodded, faintly impressed.

"I never would have known that from just looking at you." Gin nodded, standing up.

"Neither would anybody else that I have met. I try to cultivate an image, to stay in Don Krieg's good graces. I did most of this in secret." Luffy nodded once again before sniffing the air. He grinned savagely.

"Alright! Lunch is almost ready!" he bounded to the door to the ship's kitchen, where Sanji was finishing up the meals. "Hey, Sanji! You almost ready yet?"

"Done right now!" Sanji walked out, balancing two plates in his hands and one on his head. Luffy snatched his off of Sanji's head.

"Aww YEAH! This smells awesome!" he picked up one of the three pieces of meat and chomped down on it immediately. He salivated. "Damn, this is good! Remind me to get you to teach me how to make this stuff!" Sanji chuckled as the two other passengers took their plates.

"If I did that, I'd be out of a job, Luffy." Luffy shrugged.

"Eh, it was worth a shot." Luffy then stiffened. "Something's right below us. Something huge." Sanji and some crew ran to the side of the boat and pointed at the large silhouette in the water. Luffy breathed out.

"MOOOO!" the sea cow roared as it surfaced by the ship. Sanji gaped.

"What is that! A sea cow!" Sanji screamed. Luffy nodded.

"Yep. A sea cow. Stand back. This could turn ugly." He looked up at the sea cow. "MOooO MOOO Moooo. MOO MooooOO? (Hello, great sea cow. What do you want with us?)" Mohmoo drew back as if stung.

"Mooo mOOOooO! (you speak sea cow!)" The crew looked back and forth, completely and utterly confused as to how the two seemed to be having a conversation. Luffy nodded.

"Mooo, moo MOOO. (Yes, I speak sea cow.)" The great monster looked at him with wide eyes.

"mOOO mOOo MOooo? (what are you?)" Luffy spread his arms wide.

"Moooo MOoo MOOOO mooo, Moooooo mOOomOO mooo MOOO. (I have many names and I have no name, for they drift away with the currents.)" the sea cow flipped onto its back in shock, where it stayed for a few seconds. When it recovered, it righted itself, bowed its head and held out its fins, the equivalent of a bow. The crew looked on in shock.

"MOO mOOOO! Moooo! MMOOO moo mOO? (m-my liege! You're real! How may I serve you?)"

"moo moooo MOoOO. (take us to Arlong park.)" the sea cow dove into the sea, where it resurfaced in front of the boat. Luffy quickly tied a knot and threw a lasso over one horn. He did the same with the other horn. "moOO. MOooo MOo, moOO moomoo. (good. If Arlong orders you to fight us, remember who is your true master.)" The sea cow took off with a speed that had all but Luffy thrown to the back. He turned to the heap of tangled limbs and grinned. "Look! I got us a free ride!"

"How in the hell did you do that! You were talking to it or something!" Johnny stood up first. Luffy shrugged.

"I speak sea cow." The crew sweatdropped.

"look! There's the Going Merry!" Usopp shouted. He started dancing a jig. Kuro attempted to push up his glasses, but was halted by the ropes binding his arms.

"look. There are the mermen." The sharpshooter dropped to the deck with a speed that amazed the onlookers. Kuro looked over to Zoro, who was tied up beside him. "Zoro, it's time for your part." Zoro nodded, before screaming.

"UNTIE US, DAMMIT!" he flailed his legs in Usopp's direction, attempting to kick him in the face. Usopp looked over his side, sweating bullets.

"They haven't noticed us yet… wait!" two of the mermen looked over and dove into the water. "They've spotted us!" he and Johnny jumped up the bow. "We'll tell Luffy you died a hero's death!" the two jumped into the water. "Well, maybe not Kuro…"

The two mermen pulled themselves up onto the boat and looked over at the two restrained men.

"Oh, look. Two humans out to get their kicks." Zoro's face took on a light shade of green as he realized what he was talking about. The second merman shrugged.

"I don't understand humans. Why do they go after other men when women are much better?" Zoro's face got greener.

"Yeah, women have… no, wait, they're tied up. They aren't out here for fun. Unless they're into this kind of thing." Zoro's face was now as green as his hair. Kuro coughed.

"I believe you have our circumstances mistaken. We were captured as prisoners. If you would be so kind as to undo our ropes, we will be on our way." Zoro turned his head to the side and heaved his breakfast onto the planks of the ship. The two mermen recoiled from the sludge.

"Yeargh! That's nasty!" the first one shrugged.

"Let's bring them to Arlong before anything else." The two plied their strength to piloting the boat. Kuro grinned, a stray hair falling down onto his face.

'Phase one is complete. Awaiting your command, captain.'


	13. Chapter 13: The Straw Hats arrive

Here is chapter 13.

* * *

CHAPTER 13: THE STRAW HATS ARRIVE

"Open the gates! We found two suspicious men!" the two mermen shouted to Arlong Park as they restrained Zoro and Kuro. The Iron Gate creaked open, and the ship sailed in. the two guards tossed the pirates on the ground. "They were engaged in some sort of bondage thing."

"SAY THAT AGAIN AND I CHOP YOU INTO SASHIMI!" Zoro screamed. Even Kuro was looking a little pale at the continuing line of thought. Arlong was not amused.

"Do you know you're sailing in my waters? Well? Do you?" the two remained silent. "What is your purpose for being here?"

"We're looking for a woman."

"What did we tell you? Some sort of bonda-"

"SILENCE! I KILL YOU!" Zoro screamed. Arlong glared.

"I'll ask you again: what is your purpose here?" Zoro matched the glare with one of his own.

"Like I said, we're here to find a woman, you half-fish bastard!" Arlong chuckled.

"Ooh, this low-life human has guts! I'll let that slip by me this time, but you're not allowed to say half-fish ever again!" he held up his webbed hand. "Us mermen are evolved beings who can breathe underwater. These fish abilities make us superior to humans. The power we have is proof enough that we are superior to humans." Zoro sat silently through his theory. "You better remember this, and remember it well." He tapped his head. "The superior beings on earth are not humans, but mermen! If humans were to go against us, it would be like defying the laws of nature!" the tap of shoes sounded on the tiled floor.

"I grow tired of your theory, Arlong!" Nami reprimanded as she joined Arlong at his side. Arlong held up a greeting hand to her as Zoro's and Kuro's faces remained emotionless.

"Why so serious, Nami? We both know you're the exception. You're our greatest cartographer! You draw the greatest maps for us."

"Our brains our different, so it's obvious why I draw maps better than you."

"'Our' greatest cartographer, Nami?" Zoro spoke. "Are you saying you work for this guy?"

"It has become more than obvious that our retrieval mission here was a waste of time, Zoro." Kuro spoke.

"Oh? You three know each other?" Arlong questioned. Nami huffed.

"Don't be a fool. They're just victims of mine. I got a lot of loot from them." She sauntered down the steps to kneel in front of the two. She smirked. "You don't even realize that you've been tricked, and you still come chasing after me. You're idiots." Zoro kept his face blank.

"So this is your true nature? You are truly part of the half-fish's crew?" Arlong twitched. "And to think you hated pirates…" Kuro flipped his head up, causing his glasses to fly back to their original position.

"It was a trick, in order to earn our money. I did not trust you since the moment I joined the crew." Nami snorted.

"You're one to talk, Kuro. You tried to kill one of our friends." A vein in Kuro's head twitched. Even if this entire dialogue was a farce, that was going too far. "Are you two surprised? You'll understand better after seeing this…"

"Don't. We already know about the tattoo." Zoro interrupted her. Arlong leaned forward.

"Nami? What is he talking about?" the shock on her face was quickly replaced my one of contempt.

"Their idiotic leader found out about the tattoo the first day I met him, but he still trusted me. He must have told them after I stole their treasure." Arlong cackled.

"He trusted you after finding out you were one of us! SHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You find the best victims, Nami!" she twitched, almost imperceptibly, but both Zoro and Kuro saw her face become pained. Zoro grinned.

'Luffy was right. She is still one of us.'

Usopp quickly opened his eyes and sat up, looking around wildly.

"What? Where am I?"

"You're at my home." A voice behind him spoke. Usopp turned around and saw a tan blue-haired woman sitting at the table, a cup of tea held in her hands. "You awake?"

"You're…"

"My name is Nojiko. I plant oranges here." the woman spoke.

"I remember! You're the one who hit me, right?" he pointed at her accusingly. "And to think I was kind enough to rescue you!" Nojiko slid the cup of tea over to Usopp.

"I was the one who did the rescuing. If you had fought that merman in your condition, you would have been killed." Usopp got up from the bed on the floor and sat down in the offered chair."Outsiders don't know anything about what's going on here." Usopp looked across the table at the silently sobbing child. "You're from Gosa, the neighboring town, aren't you? You should know well that if you fought them, you'd get killed. More than knowing well…"

"I know, I know! But… they were the ones who killed my dad! They robbed us of everything, destroyed the village, and killed almost all of the people! I'll never forgive them! No matter what happens, I'll never forgive them!" he wiped at his tearful face with his arm. "So I headed for Arlong Park, but some woman of the gang blocked me off!" Usopp leaned forward at hearing this, his captain's words ringing in his head. "She's like some sort of witch! An orange-haired witch!" Usopp nearly spat out his drink. It was Nami! "It was horrible! I'll have my revenge against Arlong, even if I die!"

"Then go drop dead.' This time, Usopp did do a spit-take, causing a rather large puddle on the floor to appear. "Getting yourself killed would be a great 'revenge'" Usopp wiped off tendrils of tea from his mouth. "But remember this. Your life has been saved twice by both me and the witch at Arlong park." She stood up and walked away. "

Drink your tea and leave."

"Hey! Don't you think that's a little harsh for the kid?" Usopp retorted. Nojiko turned around, an expression Usopp couldn't read in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter if he's a kid or not. If he wants to die, why not let him? He doesn't have the will to live in these harsh times!"

"What are you trying to say?" the orange farmer looked down.

"I always look to the future. I know of a child who chose to live, who lives a life that is more painful than death. That's why I hate people who want to go off and die like this kid here!" the boy continued to sob, tears streaming down his face.

"What… what should I do? I'll… I'll try my best to hold it in. but what should I do?" Nojiko looked over.

"…your mother?'

"She's okay." Nojiko smiled.

"She must be worried about you. Go back to your mom." The kid sniffled.

"okay." He said in a small voice. Usopp looked up at Nojiko, newfound respect in his eyes. Usopp watched the boy get up, walk out the door and through the orange fields. He chuckled.

"You're a pretty nice gal… even though you've got tattoos."

"A common stereotype. Speaking of which, I still don't know who you are." Usopp felt the urge to lie, but decided to hold it back.

"I'm Usopp. That orange-haired witch he was talking about… that was Nami, wasn't it?" Nojiko turned around, surprise in her eyes.

"You know Nami?" Usopp nodded.

"Yes. She was in our crew before she defected. She's one of Arlong's group, isn't she?" Nojiko nodded. "It's just like Luffy said! She truly betrayed us! But…" he stroked his chin. "She doesn't want to be in that crew, does she?" Nojiko nodded, her surprise growing.

"Wow. Who's this Luffy? He knows a lot."

"He's… my captain." Nojiko looked at him.

"You're a pirate?" Usopp nodded.

Luffy tapped his chin.

"Geez, I feel like I'm forgetting something…" he snapped his fingers, before screaming. "AHHH! I FORGOT TO TELL THEM!" he waved his hand over the choppy water, pulled along by Mohmoo. He felt in the air, feeling around for his crew. "Zoro and Kuro can keep a secret, and Johnny won't have any chance to say anything… but Usopp…" he felt his sharpshooter's signature. He grinned. "Lucky! He's near water!" he concentrated. "Hmm… not enough for a clone, and I don't feel like traveling there…. what to do…" he snapped his fingers. "I got it!" he sat down and concentrated.

"Yeah, we're pirates. I'm the sharpshooter and co-captain." Usopp thumbed his chest.

"I doubt that, Usopp." Usopp whirled around.

"Luffy!" there was nobody there. But Usopp had definitely heard his voice. "Luffy? Where are you?"

"Down here." Luffy said. Nojiko looked down and nearly screeched. Usopp looked down between his legs and did screech. Luffy's face was reflecting out of the spilled tea on the floor. He grinned. "Neat, huh?"

"UWAAAA!" the cowardly sniper leaped away. "How'd you do that!"

"New trick I thought up. I haven't had a chance to use it. I have another trick, but I figured you'd faint if I used it." He shook his head. "That doesn't matter! You know what I told you on the boat?" Usopp nodded. "Keep that on the down-low! If that information got out, bad things will happen to all involved parties! Got it?" Usopp gulped and nervously nodded. Luffy 'turned' around and nodded and Nojiko. "Hey, Nojiko."

"How do you know my name!" she yelled. He shrugged.

"Lucky guess." The face twisted, confusion showing. "Something's come up. Gotta go!" the face faded, and all that was left was a puddle of tea. Usopp gulped.

"I should be used to that with him, but it just doesn't get any less freaky."

"See? You two following me now?" Nami leaned in front of Kuro and Zoro. "From the beginning, I've only been using you. You guys aren't too shabby at fighting. You were a useful bunch." Arlong laughed.

"Shahahahahahaha! You were blindly deceived, weren't you? She can even forget her mother's death for the sake of money. This woman's a cold-blooded witch." Zoro watched Nami's eyes flash with unadulterated horror. "You shouldn't have underestimated her." Zoro smirked. He nodded at Kuro.

"We get the picture." Nami refocused on them. "I never trusted her from the beginning. I wouldn't be surprised even if she was a murderer."

"If you understand, then get lost! You two are an eyesore!" Kuro nodded. Zoro leaned back over the water.

"You hear that, Luffy? She wants us out of here! Take us away!" both Kuro and Zoro leaped backwards into the water and disappeared with a trail of bubbles. Nami stared with horror-stricken eyes as she watched two men drown before her very eyes.

"What? Why did they both jump in the pool all of a sudden?" another merman chuckled.

"Did somebody say a bad joke?"

"No, it's like they jumped in because of one." One of the faceless mermen said.

"Then they must be trying to escape!"

"With their hands and feet tied up? I bet it's suicide." Arlong huffed.

"Che. Forget them." Nami heard none of this as she watched the steady stream of bubbles dwindle down to nothing.

"Never thought they'd both commit suicide. They looked too good to give up that easily." Nami made a decision as she cast aside her shoes. But then something she could have never predicted happened.

Two massive spouts of water shot into the air and deposited two drenched bodies on the cement. Zoro spat out blood.

"Dammit, Luffy! That hurt! She said she didn't want to join!" Arlong stood up quickly.

"What in hell was that?" Kuro shifted his face away from the broken shards of his glasses.

"That was our captain. And apparently he wants us to stay here." Arlong grabbed the two.

"Well, then, it would be rude to refuse your leader's generosity, wouldn't it?" he tossed the two bodily to Kuroobi and Chuu. "Lock them up. I want to know about this 'captain' of theirs, and dead men tell no tales." The two nodded and dragged them off to a stone room in the back. The two pirates were thrown in, and the door slammed shut. Kuro struggled to a sitting position.

"Well. That didn't go the way I thought it would go." Kuro unclenched his fist, revealing a sliver of glass. "But it worked to our advantage nonetheless. Once I'm done, I'll pass the glass over to you. Keep your ropes tight until they're asleep or gone." Zoro nodded, impressed.

"I'm impressed you had the foresight."

"It's not the first time I've been captured like this. One of the reasons I left pirating." Nothing further was said as Kuro continued to saw at the ropes.

Nami was contemplating the disturbing turn of events when a merman came running in.

"Arlong-san! Arlong-san!" the head merman turned around.

"What's up, friend?"

"There was this long-nosed man who was the two captured men! He got away from me! I think he was heading to cocoyashi village, but…" Arlong looked away and grinned.

"Cocoyashi village? Excellent timing. I have some errands to run there. Shall I pay them a visit?" Nami clenched her fist in silent anger. Arlong noticed this. "Ah, Nami. Are you angry about something?" she remained silent. Arlong leered. "Are you angry that you haven't seen your villagers in a long time?" Nami still remained silent, though blood was starting to seep down he palm from where the nails bit into the skin. "In that case, you can come with me! Come with me while I run errands there. You have no objections… correct?" Nami stiffly nodded, though inwardly she was seething. "Then we are in agreement! To cocoyashi village!"

"Arlong's coming!" a villager shouted.

"What?" a gruff voice spoke. The sound of a pinwheel twirling in the air slowly ground to a halt.

"What's going on? We just paid the tributes." The villager spoke. The gruff voice sank to the ground next to an umbrella.

"Maybe he's come to punish me for weapons possession. Everyone, get in your homes."

"Gen-san…"

"Here they come!" Genzo looked up and saw the approaching group of mermen. He waved rapidly for the villagers to move. One by one, they filed into their homes as Arlong leaned over the pinwheel man.

"Was it you? The one who has the damned weapon?" Genzo looked down at his knees.

"Yes, I am. I just love admiring it. Is it wrong for one of your subjects to have a weapons collection?"

"Yeah, 'cause it'll bring in trouble. Weapons only draw in evil and violence. It's a main factor in disturbing the peace." Usopp peered around the walls of a building and stammered madly.

"He's huge! That's Arlong! He's no human alright!" Nojiko nodded.

"Well, he is a merman…"

"I've got twenty villages and towns under my control. Rebels are a pain in the ass. As ruler, I destroyed Gosa as a warning. The fact that they refused to pay their tributes was an indication of their rebellion." Usopp looked to the tattooed woman near him.

"What tribute?"

"It's exactly like he says. It's money we offer to him. Every month, we spend money to buy our own lives, be it adults or children. If somebody can't afford to pay it, even if there's only one, the town will be destroyed like Gosa." Usopp gulped.

"Th-the town was flipped upside down like that because of one person?"

"That's how Arlong works. They are racists who don't give a damn about toying with and killing human lives."

"Understand? Low-life humans should think of nothing but ways to give money to me. I need lots of funds. The tributes that you offer will be the foundation for the Arlong Empire that will dominate the east blue!" Usopp choked on his spit.

"Arlong empire…?" Nojiko remained silent. "Are they planning to dominate the whole east blue as a merman empire?"

Kuro flexed his hands and broke his bonds with an audible 'snap!' as he began to work on his feet. "Excellent. My hands are free." As he leaned forward, however, he felt something jab him in the side. Kuro opened up his coat and peered in. "well. We seem to have an unexpected stroke of luck. They forgot to take away my claws." He slid on his bladed hands and sliced through his ropes with a clean flick. He did the same for Zoro. Zoro stood up, massaging his wrists. "Zoro. You need to be my eyes, as my sight right now is abysmal. Are there any guards out there?"

"Yeah. It looks like the half-fish bastard and some of his cronies are gone, but the majority are still there." Kuro pushed up the remains of his glasses with the palm of his hand. "Damn… if I had my sword right now I could do something, but…"

"Get inside the cell, and don't come out until I tell you to. I don't want to slice you up in the mayhem. This is as good an opportunity to escape as we'll get." Kuro walked out of the room, swaying on his feet. One of the mermen quickly saw him.

"Hey! You! The prisoner has escaped!"

"Cat out of the bag."

Arlong slammed a massive fist into Genzo's stomach, toppling over the umbrella shading them. He grabbed the relatively tiny man by the throat. Nojiko gasped.

"Gen-san!" Usopp stared at the spectacle playing out in front of him.

"It's rebellious enough just by having a weapon. In order to prevent any other rebels from you humans, I'll kill you right here, right now." Genzo craned his head the little amount that he could and looked at the faces staring at him from the windows. The one face that caught his attention, however, was not in any window.

'Nami…' he wished he could talk, to be able to say something, anything to the woman, silently shaking with rage, biting her lip hard enough to bleed. 'Nami… I'm so sorry you had to see this… I won't live to see our day of freedom…'

"How can you be so selfish, Arlong!" Nojiko screamed. Arlong craned his head to see the latest disturbance. Genzo struggled, freeing enough of him to breath. "We've been offering tributes to you now for eight years, without fail! There's no way we'd even think about rebelling, is there! Let him go!" Genzo tried to speak, to tell her to be quiet, to not get killed like the fool he himself was, when he heard the doors of the streets clatter open.

"She's right!"

"He didn't even use any weapons!"

"Let him go!"

"Please don't!" Genzo tried to shout at them

'what are you doing! Save yourselves! Don't die for my sake!' but all he managed was a half-hearted gurgle.

"I also said that weapons possession was a form of rebellion." He leered at the crowd. "Or are your thoughts otherwise? Do you want me to dig up this village? If anyone goes against us, then don't expect anything less than the demise of this village. I don't care what you choose." The hand throttling him loosened the tiniest fraction, and Genzo could speak.

"Everyone, get back inside! It's useless to fight them now. If we could defeat them, we would have done it eight years ago! But we swore, 'let's outlast them! Let's have patience be our weapon!'" Arlong hoisted him higher.

"Now, isn't that touching! Nicely said! Of course you can be happy for being alive! Even worthless pests like you!" he tossed the sheriff of cocoyashi village to the ground, causing him to hack up blood. Nami snapped.

"Arlong! We can't kill him!" she shouted. The entire village centered on her, realizing for the first time that she was there.

"Nami…" Arlong hoisted the man up again.

"Oh? And why can't I kill the low-life human that resists me?" Nami bit her lip, trying to hastily come up with a plausible reason for his life to be spared. Arlong snorted. "Let this be a warning!"

"Exploding star!" a voice shouted as Arlong exploded in gunpowder and smoke. Genzo toppled to the ground from the head merman's suddenly limp grip. The merman gasped in surprise before looking around for the mysterious attacker.

"Look! Up there!" one of them exclaimed as he pointed up to a rooftop, where a figure was standing.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I am the brave captain of the sea, c-captain Usopp!"

As Kuro slowed to a shuddering halt, Zoro whistled. He had seen the whole spectacle through the bars of the cell door, and he was faintly impressed.

"Very impressive. Though a bit out of control. What if you sliced up your teammates?" Zoro pushed open the door, noting the huge gashes in the metal. "You almost did, in fact."

"It is why I did not want you in the available vicinity." Kuro pushed up the remains of his glasses. "Luffy would have my hide if I hurt one of his nakama." He looked at the general direction of Zoro. "For him, nakama is everything, almost to a point of fanaticism." Zoro walked towards one of the building's doors, noting the gash marks there as well. "I have been around Luffy for very little, and yet I can already tell this. It is subtle, but it is there." Zoro pushed open the door, peered around, and slammed it shut. "I do not know what his past is like, but he must have lost someone that he considered his nakama, probably a large group of them."

"You read Luffy like an open book, don't you?" he pushed open another door, looked inside, and spotted his katana. "There it is!" he grabbed it off of its position of leaning against the wall and strapped it to his side.

"I rarely miss things. One small detail that goes unnoted can cause an entire plan to crumble to its knees. Knowing how to read people as well as the surroundings is paramount to me." Zoro nodded.

"Very well, then." He looked down at the body beneath him, noting that it was still breathing. "You didn't do a very good job, Kuro. This one's still breathing." He looked around. "It looks like almost, if not all of them are still alive." Kuro looked up, faintly surprised.

"Really?" Zoro nodded. "That is unexpected. Though I must blame the outcome on the broken glasses. What little sight I had during my attack must have been destroyed. But are you certain that all of them are still alive?" Zoro looked around.

"Yep. I'm sure. None of them will be doing any fighting in the near future, but I think they'll all live." Kuro pushed up his glasses before taking off his cat claws.

"We can't kill them now. We've already bested them. Killing them would violate our honor." Zoro looked up, surprised.

"You know the swordsman's code?" Kuro nodded.

"Yes. Though our blades may be different, and our methods and morals may be different, the act that we both follow the way of the sword still exists." He chuckled. "Though I am more prone to 'ignore' those ways if it suits me." Zoro sat down in the throne casually, hands lung behind his neck.

"So… now what are supposed to do? Our only entertainment lies dying on the floor." Kuro reached into his coat and pulled out a small deck of cards. Zoro arched an eyebrow. The former butler waved the deck around.

"Tell me… have you ever played poker, Zoro?"

"Go! To Arlong park!" Luffy shouted to Mohmoo. The giant sea cow mooed in response as it barreled along on the sea. Yosaku stood staring at the crashing waves as Sanji clutched his head amusedly.

"Wait for me, Nami!"

"MOOoo MooOO, MOOmoo! (I'm going as fast as I can, my liege!)" The sea cow 'yelled' into the water. Luffy nodded.

"I know! And I thank you for that!" Luffy flicked his hands and the ship sped up considerably, sending Yosaku rolling to the front of the deck gun after losing his footing. Mohmoo yelped as the massive wave caught it as well. "But now we're going even faster!"

"MOOOOO! (AAAAHH!)"

Usopp was panting heavily as he leaped out of the tall grass of the plains. He cautiously looked back, and saw the rustle of disturbed grass indicating his pursuers.

"Damn! I can't outrun them?" Usopp yelped as he tripped on the ground and fell into the bushes. He immediately improvised. The mermen converged on the area.

"Where'd he go?"

"Anybody who thinks Usopp-sama shouldn't die now, raise their hands!" a crackly voice said from the foliage. A shadowy silhouette shot up.

"Yes!" it immediately drifted away, only to be replaced by another.

"Yes!" another. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" the merman grinned stupidly.

"The idiot! Who does he think he's fooling?" they tiptoed into the bushes towards a figure that hadn't disappeared.

"You guys think so too? So do I!" the mermen leaped on him with a grunt, only to realize they had grabbed a piece of tree. Three eggs flew through the air.

"Killing move! Egg star!" the eggs exploded on impact with the mermen's faces, covering them with the rotten substance. Usopp quickly grabbed his goggles from the log and ran as they clawed at the runny fluid. Usopp cackled as he weaved through the high grass.

"How's that! Mermen aren't that great! No matter what, captain Usopp will always escape!" his foot tumbled off of the cliff and Usopp drew back instinctively. "Crap… I didn't know I'd gotten to the beach already!" the shuffling of grass behind him turned his blood cold. He spotted the tree on the ledge and immediately leaped for it.

"Over here! We've got him!" the lead merman cried as he walked to the cliff. As his foot touched air he stopped. A bird landed on a mysterious black splodge on the tree, which in actuality was Usopp's hair.

"There's nothing here."\

"Were we mistaken?"

"That guy does run fast."

"Let's look somewhere else." The fish-men turned and walked away, leaving Usopp crying comical tears of joy.

'Thank god…' the bird perched on his head pushed off and flew away, and that was all it took to destabilize him and send him toppling down the cliff. He landed in a pile of himself. He looked around.

"Huh? What? What the?" he waved his arms around, checking that yes, they were both still attached. He grinned stupidly and shot up.

"Yes, yes! Thank you for cheering me on! As you can see, I'm fine…" the water in front of him exploded, and Chuu was standing in front of him, a malevolent look on his face.

"Maybe a little too fine?" Usopp's blood chilled.

'That's true…'

"You are good at this game, Zoro. Are you sure that you have never played before?" Kuro questioned as he raked in his small winnings from that pot. He shrugged.

"My entire life has been swordsmanship, training, and booze. I've never had time to try gambling. You should understand that, Kuro." Kuro pushed up the remains of his glasses.

"You should try it sometime. You seem to be enjoying yourself now." Zoro shrugged again.

"Yeah, it's pretty fun. Kind of boring playing against just you, though." Kuro nodded.

"Yes, it is rather dull. It will rarely be just two players, however." Any other topics for conversation were cut off as a voice behind the walls started speaking bizarre words.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! This one's awesome! Even I, a member of Arlong's elite, hachi-hatchan, can't pull it up! It must be a super-great fish!" Zoro quirked an eyebrow as he pointed multiple times over at the wall with three fishing poles. Kuro nodded, and the two began to sneak over.

"I don't know where you came from, but your gusto is the east blue's best!" a pair of pants with a hook in them were pulled into sight. "wh-what the? Huh? Oh, it was myself." The lines snapped, and the pants fell out of view. Kuro and Zoro pulled themselves up to the top of the wall as Hatchan pulled himself upright with his six arms. "truly, my gusto is east blue's best." He looked up. "anything strange?"

"very strange." Kuro pushed up his glasses. Hatchan nodded before noticing who he was talking to.

"what? Who the heck are you?" his face shifted as he pointed to himself. "m-me?" he grinned. "I'm Hatchan. Call me Hachi."

"you're a merman too?" Zoro asked. Hatchan puffed up his chest.

"of course! Of course!" he started waving his arms like a hula dancer. "I'm a charming octopus man! Do I look human to you?"

"I guess not…" Zoro said, staring at the suckers on the octopus man's arms.

"are you with the marines or are you a guest?"

"guest?" Zoro looked over his back at the bodies of the still softly moaning mermen.

"yes, we are guests." Kuro answered Hatchan.

"but you know, Arlong's not here right now, right?" Zoro leaned back on the wall.

"yeah. Where'd he go, anyways?"

"I heard there was a long nosed stranger who was trying to run away. they say there were two that were captured and held here though." Hatchan's fishing poles popped back into working. "Arlong went to cocoyashi village to catch him." Zoro sighed.

'so Usopp's been discovered… guess we"d better go save him…' Zoro stood up and jumped down off the wall. Kuro followed suit.

"how do we get to this cocoyashi village?" Kuro asked the octopus. He merely jerked a thumb at the giant brown pot floating in the water.

"get in. I'll take you there, swordsman and gentleman." Zoro clenched his fist on his sword while Kuro pushed up his glasses. He immediately jerked his head towards the door, where it was slowly creaking open. He looked at Zoro sharply, who nodded. he had heard it too. The two got into the rather cramped pot, as the octopus jumped into the water and looped his multiple arms through the ropes. The merman swiftly took off as both men heaved a silent sigh of relief.

Along was seeing red. He rushed to one of the still conscious members of his crew.

"what happened here! What happened?" he wheezed a shuddering breath. "MY COMRADES!"

"Roronoa…" the merman breathed. Arlong hoisted his face up to his ear.

"what?"

"Roronoa Zoro… and some other man." Arlong's eyes widened.

"what? The pirate hunter? He's come for my head?" the merman coughed up blood.

"no… he didn't 'come'. The green-haired guy… was Roronoa. And the other… was a man named Kuro." Arlong's eyes widened. He had heard of Kuro of the thousand plans.

"WHAT? Roronoa Zoro and the dead Kuro of a thousand plans?" the merman slumped in his grip, sweet unconsciousness overtaking him. Chuu strolled through the gates, dragging Usopp by the nose.

"I got him, Arlong-san." He choked on his spit when he saw the sight in front of him. "wh-what's… all this…?"

"took you long enough, Chuu." Usopp stared at the scene in front of him.

'don't tell me Zoro and Kuro…' the evil look in Arlong's eye answered all his unspoken questions.

"we've arrived. Cocoyashi village." Hatchan stated as Kuro and Zoro stepped out of the octopus pot. "Arlong-san should be in this village." Kuro nodded.

"thank you for your time." Hatchan waved.

"no problem. later!" he jumped in the water and began dragging off the pot. He immediately surfaced. "oh! I didn't ask your names!" he pointed with all six arms to himself. "me? you want to hear my name again? It's Hatchan. Come again!" he dove down and swan off. Kuro pushed up his broken glasses.

"what an odd character."

"yeah." The two finished this brief conversation and ran off to cocoyashi village.


	14. Chapter 14: Arrival of Luffy

Hey everyone here is chapter 14.

Enjoy.

* * *

CHAPTER 14: THE ARRIVAL OF LUFFY

Usopp felt his blood temperature drop to an all-time low when the knife thudded next to his face.

"But you're one of Zoro and Kuro of a thousand plans' comrades?" the blade inched along its groove. Centimeter by centimeter, it neared Usopp's nose. The long-nosed sharpshooter started sweating bullets.

"It's normal to be hunted by a bounty hunter. But a dead man? And working together? I think not."

"H-help me! I'm not in league with those two!" Usopp pleaded.

"Chu. Stop telling such pathetic lies. You attacked Arlong-san, right? Either way, there's no saving you." Usopp immediately switched his argument to save his life.

"wh-what are you trying to say? Zoro, Kuro and I are b-buddies! If you hurt me, they won't stand for it at all!" the dagger slid further and further towards Usopp's phallic nose.

"are you saying that if we kill you, Zoro and the dead man will come here?" Usopp started crying tears of fear.

"n-n-no, that's not right! Killing me is very bad! If you keep me alive, those two will surely appear! If you kill me, they'll definitely stay away!" the mermen sweatdropped at this strange logic. Nami stepped out from behind the door.

"your lies are as pathetic as ever, Usopp. Are you still the same weasel desperately clasping at life?" Usopp began to speak, asking her why she had joined, before Luffy's words rang in his head, silencing his tongue.

"_if that information gets around, bad things will happen to all involved parties!_" Usopp swallowed his pride (a difficult thing for him under the circumstances) and began to weave his most important lie ever.

"Nami! What are you doing with these mermen!" her eyes were shaded as she grinned a sinister grin.

"I am part of this invincible crew." Usopp growled. He surreptitiously looked around to see if anybody was buying his act. To his surprise, they were.

'they don't suspect a thing!' he was emboldened by this, but once again swallowed his pride. He had to stay sharp. He couldn't let any of them know he was tricking them.

"part of the mermen's crew! You betrayed us!" Nami giggled evilly.

"you guys were really gullible. You actually thought I was one of your nakama. How idiotic. I live and die by money. That's all you ever were. A big source of money." Usopp was completely fooled by her acting. 'or…' Usopp thought with a cold sliver of dread sneaking down into his stomach. 'she isn't acting, and Luffy was completely fooled.' The thought sent a shiver down his spine. Kuroobi walked forward.

"Arlong-san. They apparently sawed their way through the ropes with this." He held out the large shard of glass. Arlong spat and swatted the proffered object away, breaking it under his heel.

"your friends are creative ones. Sawing through their ropes with the broken shards of glass…" the blade inched closer to Usopp's nose, close enough for him to feel the cold steel. "I'll humor you, long nose. I'll spare your life. Besides…" he grinned a toothy grin. "A hostage always attracts attention. They'll come running."

"wh-what is this!" Hatchan stared at a body of a merman floating in the water with horrified eyes. "what happened here!"

"it's the work of pirate hunter Zoro and a dead man. More importantly, where were you, Hachi? If you were here, this wouldn't have happened." Hatchan leaped out of the water and gesticulated wildly.

"of course, of course! If I had been here, this wouldn't have happened!" his eyes went white with rage. "this is beyond forgiveness!"

"so in other words, you have no idea where Zoro and Kuro of a thousand plans went?" Hatchan stroked his chin.

"now that you mention it, there was a strange swordsman and a gentleman here…" his face went blue with shock as he realized who he had helped escape. "you mean it was them!" the mermen went slack-jawed at their superior's stupidity.

"so you did see them! You idiot! Where did the two go?"  
"since they wanted to see Arlong, I took them to cocoyashi village!"

"what! You mean that Usopp was captured by that half-fish bastard?" Zoro slammed his fist against the wall, pinning a terrified villager to the wall.

"h-he was just taken to Arlong park! He's probably dead by now!" Zoro stared at his hand, letting the man slump to the ground.

"shit. That means while we were killing time playing poker, Usopp got caught." Kuro pushed up his mangled glasses.

"go find him, Zoro. I have to stay here to get new glasses. Without my eyesight, I am a liability in battle." Zoro nodded before running off on the forest trail.

"Usopp! Stay alive!" Kuro turned to the villagers.

"where is the nearest optometric office?"

"then there's nothing to worry about. It means that he's looking for me as well." Arlong grinned. Hatchan spread his arms wide sheepishly.

"well, he said he was Arlong-san's guest! I didn't think you would return so quickly!" Usopp grinned.

'Zoro is… that means that if I can buy myself some more time…!' Nami looked over at him and grabbed him by the arm before he could do a thing. She yanked him up and pulled out a length of rope, swiftly imprisoning him in the bonds. Usopp struggled in vain. The cold sliver of dread had solidified. Nami was not acting. Luffy had been fooled.

"Nami! I'm disappointed in you! Luffy doesn't doubt you one bit! Even after you steal his ship, he still believes in you! he told us you still belonged to us!" Nami's breath caught in her throat. "but you lied! You lied to all of us! How can you so calmly deceive someone like him!"

"the only thing that I trust is money!" she said with a catch in her throat. "he's an idiot for being fooled."

Usopp twisted his head round and bit her hand. Nami screamed and let go. The bonds around him went slack, as she had not yet had time to tie him up. he swiftly reached into his pouch and threw a pellet on the ground. "smoke star!" the area exploded in smoke, obscuring any and all vision. Usopp towards the water, intent on swimming his way out while they were still distracted. It was not to be.

"shark on darts!" Arlong yelled as he launched himself at the last place their hostage had been. Usopp did not make a sound as the razor-sharp nose of Nokogiri Arlong penetrated his chest. Usopp gurgled only when Arlong pushed the dying man off of him into the water. Usopp floated downward into the pool in a cloud of his own blood. Nami stared with terrified, horrified, fearful eyes as her hand shot up to her mouth. Usopp was dead. Usopp was DEAD. Arlong never left any survivors. Usopp was dead. But he couldn't be dead… they were coming to save her… but she saw him die… Arlong cackled maniacally.

"SHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Let's see if you come running now, Roronoa Zoro and Kuro of the thousand plans! SHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Johnny stumbled back with crying eyes.

"Usopp-aniki was killed… by Arlong!" he fell back on his butt, the sensory overload of his friend being murdered in cold blood. "monster… monster… he's a monster!" he turned and ran, away from that place of death, away from his friend's grave, away from the murderer named Arlong.

"Hey, Mohmoo! This is good enough!" Luffy commanded the 'steed' of the ship as the sea cow did as it commanded. Sanji stepped up.

"what do you mean, we're not ready?"

"I mean that we still have to find Zoro, Usopp and Kuro!" Luffy grinned. "Gunther! How far are we from Coyashi island?"

"We are 5 miles captain." Gunther says.

"Alright. Dallas all engines ahead full!" Luffy commands.

"Aye captain. All engines ahead full." Dallas says pushing the throttles forward. The Iowa starts moving towards the island. The Iowa now is two miles away.

"hard to starboard and stop all engines."

"Aye captain." Gunther says. "Hard to starboard and all engines stop!"

"aye! Hard to starboard!" Dallas says steering the ship. "All engines stop." The Iowa comes to a stop with her port side facing the island.

"All guns train on Coyashi Island at Arlong Park!" Luffy barks.

"Aye captain!" Bonzo says.

All the guns turn to the port side and face the island.

"Luffy! What are you thinking?!" Sanji yells shocked to see every gun locked onto the island. Luffy turns to Sanji.

"Sanji I am going to destroy Arlong Park. I have to do it with all my guns." Luffy says before turning back to Bonzo. "All guns open fi…." Luffy starts but trails off.

"What is your command captain?" Bonzo asks.

"Helm! All engines ahead full! Hard to Port! Head straight for the island!" Luffy barks and Dallas runs to the helm to get the ship moving. "Gunther, Bonzo! Prepare the infantry! Prep a Abrahms tank as well, as well as a truck!"

"Aye, aye captain!" the two shout and run to get prepared to go ashore.

"Captain what are you thinking?" Gin asks.

"We will fight Arlong instead of blow the shit out of the place with the Iowa. I will use my men. Arlong won't stand a chance against my men." Luffy says.

The Iowa stops half a mile away from the beach and the ship is a buzz with crewmembers running and doing things.

Luffy and his crew and infantry hopped out of the boats used to get to the beach. Some of the infantry personel rode on top of the tank and some were in the truck that carried 20. They started lining up in rows of five with each containing 15 people.

"Alright! We are heading to Arlong Park. Your objective is to stun or subdue. Do not KILL. I repeat do not KILL. Understood?"

"SIR YES SIR!"

"Good. Now move out!"

"Sir!"

Luffy and his troops start marching for Arlong Park with the tank infront knocking down trees followed by the truck with Luffy in the cab and the soldiers behind the truck with their guns ready.

The tank cleared some tress to a road that heads in the direction of Arlong Park. The tank lets the truck by and it takes the lead and some soldiers climb onto the truck and tank, but before they moved Luffy spotted someone.

"YO! Zoro! " Zoro was shocked and surprised to see all who was with Luffy and the two machines that he has never seen before.

"you bastard… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!" he yelled furiously. Luffy placed the straw hat back on top of his head.

"what do you mean? We came to find you and Kuro before we went for Nami. Where is he, anyways?"

"he's over at coco-something village getting new glasses. They broke when you launched us out of the water." Luffy looked up.

"hey, that's something I wanted to ask you! what the heck were you two doing? Were you trying to commit suicide or something?" a tick on Zoro's head formed.

"we were trying to get you to get us out of there! I thought you were omniscient or something!" Luffy held out his arms.

"Hey, I'm only omniscient when I'm actually paying attention to being omniscient. If I'm not paying attention, I can't tell what's going on in the water." He scratched his head. He remembered what he was supposed to say now. "say, wasn't Usopp with you? where is he?" Zoro cursed.

"that's right… the idiot got himself caught by the mermen. We have to go and rescue him before he gets killed!"

"he's dead." Johnny spoke, walking along the groove that the boat had left. Luffy felt a pang in his heart, "it's too late. Usopp-aniki is dead." Luffy was wide-eyed and shocked. Johnny punched the ground in helpless fury. "he was killed! By that monster Arlong!"

Those four words felt like a punch in the gut to Luffy. those four words, those four words that he had never heard before, those four words that were different felt worse than any beating in a fight that he had ever been in. 'by that monster Arlong! By that monster Arlong! By… monster Arlong! Monster Arlong! Arlong! Arlong!' Luffy slumped to the ground. This was not right. This was not right at all. This was horribly wrong. "it is! Arlong stabbed him through the heart! I saw him fall into the pool in a puddle of his own blood! Usopp is dead!" Luffy punched a tree breaking it in half to the shock of the others.

A thump beside him did not break him from his reverie. It did for the others, however.

"Nami!" the woman sat beside Luffy, holding the crying teenager as he rocked back and forth on his heels while fighting her own despair more successfully.

"Luffy… he's dead… Usopp's dead…"

Zoro grabbed Nami and pulled her away from Luffy.

"is it true? Did Arlong kill Usopp?" she shakily nodded her head. "god… what happened?"

"Usopp… he tried to make a break for it, and Arlong got to him…" Nami huddled close to herself. "it's horrible…" Luffy stood up, the tears on his face drying. "Luffy?"

Inside Luffy, something was changing. The rage, the disbelief, the sadness. All of his was hardening, cooling, sharpening. All feelings inside of Luffy's beating heart were transformed into cold, hard fury. The temperature around him dropped a good twenty degrees as the water in the air turned into frosty icicles. He turned around, a look in his eye that terrified everybody there, everybody who saw it. His haki was leaking as well as the Reaper.

"Nami…" he clenched his fist. "I'll kill him. I'll _destroy_ him. I will kill everyone, I will mutilate every single merman inside Arlong park. I will slice them all into millions of pieces and I will destroy every single splinter of Arlong park because THEY KILLED USOPP!" he screamed releasing a wave of haki. It took all of the men there to restrain him, to keep him from rushing off to Arlong park to make good his threat. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO! I'LL KILL HIM! I'LL KILL EVERY MERMAN THERE!"

"Luffy! no! we can't!" Sanji yelled at him as he feebly clutched at the furious man's waist. "we have to wait for the others!"

"I'LL KILL THEM ALL WITHOUT THE OTHERS! I CAN DO IT, JUST LET ME GO!" he screamed. Tremors wracked Nami's body.

"Luffy… please… don't… I don't want you to die too… please…" Luffy froze, sending the men toppling to the ground. Luffy cracked his knuckles.

"Zoro. Where the hell is Kuro." Is wasn't a question. It was a command. Zoro stuttered a tiny bit at the foreign agent in his captain's voice.

"h-he was over in cocoyashi village. He had to get new glasses. Said he was a liability without them." Luffy

Then vanished in a black whisp and reappered in a village. Kuro walked out of the eye doctor's office, pushing up a new pair of slightly-too-big glasses.

"captain. What happened?"

"Usopp's dead." Kuro hissed slightly.

"who did it?"

"Arlong. We're going to destroy him now. Come with me." the captain of the Black Cat pirates began to walk, before a small boy began running through the streets, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"the marines are coming! The marines are coming!" he pointed off to the sea, and sure enough, there was a marine ship sailing towards cocoyashi village. "the survivors of gosa village contacted the government! The marines are here to rescue us!" Luffy looked at the ship. Luffy clenched his fist. His revenge would be set aside. He wouldn't let a single soul be killed by Arlong ever again. He slowly started walking towards the shore.  
"Kuro. Change of plans. We're saving that marine ship from itself." Kuro nodded, pushing up his glasses.

"as you wish, captain." Luffy stared at the ship waiting for it make it's move. Sure enough, a single cannon boomed out a report as a cannonball flew through the air. Luffy stomped his foot on the ground, and a plume of water shot up and snatched the iron ball out of the air. As the villagers gawked at this impossibility, Luffy began to write in the air with his finger.

"what in the watery hells was that!" Purin Purin yelled as the cannonball was stolen out of the air. One of the marines under his command gasped and pointed down at the water.

"general! Look! Something's happening with the water!" purin purin stumbled over and looked where his soldier was pointing. He gaped. In the water, words were forming.

"**Idiot**.** If I had let you connect that cannonball, you would have been destroyed utterly.**" Purin purin drew back as if stung.

"who are you!" the words disappeared as new ones replaced them.

**I am… a friend. One that hates these mermen more than you could possibly know. you should leave before they come to kill you. **purin purin growled.

"but justice does not allow us to do that! we have to destroy these mermen!" the words wavered for a moment, before being whisked away and replaced with new ones.

**You… truly care about justice?** Purin purin nodded. the words disappeared before replaced with new, confident words. **Good. That is good! I like that! you are not like other marines I've met, who are petty and corrupt.** The words were replaced. **Listen. You cannot hope to defeat these mermen. They are out of your league. Leave them to me. I have a different idea of what you can do.**  
"what?" the words reformed.

**There is a marine that comes here regularly, who wears a hat with weasel ears and laughs like a mouse. I think his name is Nezumi. It is my belief that he is taking payments from Arlong to keep his activities silent. Return to your headquarters and expose his duplicity. That is something that you can do.** By the end of this long statement, general Purin Purin was trembling.

"nezumi, you snake… I know the man. His treachery will not go unpunished."

**Good. Now go, before they send men to destroy you. I will take care of Arlong and his scum myself. **The words receded, and the sea it was written on began to act like normal sea again instead of flat paper. Purin Purin immediately held out his hand.

"wait! Who are you?" the sea flattened out, and the final message was written.

**My name… is Luffy. now go.** The sea dropped limply. Purin Purin was immediately walking the deck.

"you heard Luffy! we return to marine headquarters! We will expose the treacherous captain Nezumi! For the sake of justice!" the marines roared as the ship whirled about and began the trek home. On shore, the citizens of cocoyashi village watched in anger and confusion as the savior marine ship turned tail and ran. Luffy nodded and dropped his finger.

"there. we have saved lives from Arlong." Kuro pushed up his glasses.

"are you sure it was wise, giving them your name?"

"it does not matter anymore. They know now. What now matters is avenging Usopp. Come, Kuro. We return to Arlong park." The two captains turned and slowly walked the path to the building where their nakama had died.

Doctor nako felt a tug at his soul, unlike anything he had ever felt before.

"what…?" he immediately forgot the feeling as a thought gripped him. "you know what… I feel like taking a walk along the beach. And that's what I'll do." He stood up and walked out of the health clinic. "there aren't any patients in today, and I've never done it for fun, so why not?" he walked down the cobbled road, ignoring the massive crowd at the shoreline as he shuffled amiably down the sandy beach. "yeah… this is nice… relaxing, too…" he spotted a large shape on the tide. "whoa… that's some big flotsam… wonder what it is…" he peered at it before gasping. "wait a minute! That's not flotsam! That's a body!" he rushed out into the water, grabbing hold of the person's arm as he dragged him in. he flipped the man onto his back and immediately did CPR. The man coughed up water almost immediately. Nako sighed. "thank god… he won't drown to death…" he unsnapped the man's overalls and peered inside. He gaped. "my god! That's one hell of a stab wound! We"ve got to get you to the clinic!"

Doctor nako was wrapping the wound in gauze when the man sat up abruptly.

"what? Hey, you shouldn't be up!" the man looked around the room.

"where am I?" doctor nako continued to wrap the wound in gauze.

"you're in my health clinic. Now lie down. You've got one nasty stab wound, and you shouldn't…" his voice trailed off when he realized the wound he was wrapping was no longer there. "what? But I was sure that…" the man stood up. he looked over at a bag haning form his shoulder. He snapped it open and looked at a care-worn green slingshot.

"cool! Is this mine?"

"well, it was with you when I found you, so…" the man turned and bowed.

"thank you for helping me, but I really need to get back to…" he thumbed his chin. "who do I need to get back to?" his stroked his chin. "come to think of it…" he turned to the doctor, who was still trying to figure out where the mysterious wound went. "hey, ossan! Do you know who I am?"

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please leave reviews and comments.


	15. Chapter 15: Luffy's march to Arlong Park

Here is chapter 15.

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own One Piece.

Enjoy.

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CHAPTER 15: LUFFY'S MARCH TO ARLONG PARK

"Who you are…?" the doctor repeated. The man nodded.

"Yeah! I can't remember a thing! So, do you know who I am?" Nako shook his head. The man shrugged. "Ah, well! It's bound to come to me sooner or later!" he peered out the window at the village. "Say, where are we?"

"This is cocoyashi village. I suggest you get out of here quick. We've been dominated by a group of merman pirates for the past eight years. If they see you, they might kill you." the man shrugged, rubbing his temples. 'Pirate… why does that sound familiar… and mermen…?' a memory flashed by him.

'I am the great captain…' there was a name, he knew it, but it continually slipped from his grasp. He straightened up.

"That's right! I'm a pirate captain!" he grinned. "That's what I needed! I'm a pirate! I'm not afraid of any stupid mermen! I'll take them all on! For I am a brave pirate captain of the sea!" he hunkered down immediately. Something about what he said sent another memory to him. 'I am a brave warrior of the sea! That's why they call brave captain…' the name slipped through his fingers once again. The man growled. Why couldn't he remember the name! "So you honestly don't know who I am?" the doctor peered at his face, before snapping his fingers.

"That's it! You were that boy who attacked Arlong! You shot Arlong with that very slingshot!" the man looked at the slingshot in his hand.

"Really?" he walked towards the man, only for something in his bag to clink. He snapped it open, curious. "Hey! These are some slingshot pellets! Cool!" he rattled around inside. "Wow, there are a lot in here! I must have been a whiz with this thing! Wonder if I've still got it?" he walked out of the house, gesturing for the doctor to follow. "Hey, doc! Pick out a target for me! I wanna see how good of a shot I am!" doctor Nako looked around, before pointing at an oddly shaped knot on a tree about fifty paces away.

"See that knot? Try that." the man pulled back on the slingshot and released in one swift motion, and the lead star sank right in the middle of the knot.

"That was easy! Let's try something else!" the doctor nodded before pointing at a weather vane shaped like a rooster high above them, about a hundred paces away.

"Shoot the eye out of that weather vane." The man pulled out another lead star, pulled back, lined up his sight and released, all within the space of two or three seconds. The vane twirled around, and when it stopped, the eye was gone. The doctor pointed at a knot on a house 150 paces away. "Let's see if you can get that."

"Yosh!" he pulled out one last lead star, lined up his aim, taking longer than usual. He let go, and the lead ball shot straight into the center of the knot. The doctor gaped.

"My god! I said that one as a joke! You actually got it!" he stroked his chin before looking around cautiously. "Have you ever used a gun before?"

"A gun? I wouldn't remember!" the doctor ran into the health clinic and disappeared. He came back with two matching flintlock pistols.

|Here. Take these. They have gunpowder but no bullets. It's a new model in south blue, with six rounds and a rapid-fire option. I just got them smuggled to me by my cousin in case a revolt happens. You could probably use them better than I could. Try them out." The man took the two pistols from him, hefting them about.

"Hmmm… not bad! I little hefty, but I can get used to that!" he snapped open the six-bullet cartridge. He fed some of his lead stars in. they fit perfectly. He snapped the cartridge shut. He cocked the gun and pointed at the knot on the tree with both guns. He emptied all twelve bullets at it. When the smoke cleared, there was only one hole in the tree. The man scratched his head. "What? I missed?" the doctor, not believing his eyes, pulled out a pocket knife and walked over to the knot. He chiseled away at the bottom of it, until twelve bullets rolled into his hand.

"I-impossible…" the man's eyes bugged out as he stared at the pistols in his hand. "You got all twelve bullets in the same hole… you're like the king of snipers… sogeki king…" the man looked up.

"Sogeki king… I like that!" he pointed his finger up. "Yosh! That will be my name! Sogeki king! I am the brave captain Sogeking!"

SMASH! A pot flew through the glass window as Nojiko walked back to her home. Nojiko looked up, startled as the crashing continued. She then realized the only person who could even do this. She exhaled and smiled wryly as she walked into the trashing of her home.

"Aah. You made quite a mess." Nami ignored her as she huddled at the table, trying to fight the tremors running through her body. Nojiko immediately noticed this. "What's the matter?"

"He's dead… Usopp is dead…" Nojiko drew back.

"The long-nosed fellow from your crew?" Nami's head whipped up.

"You know him!" Nojiko nodded. Nami slumped down. "I saw him get killed in front of me… Arlong got to him before I could… I could have saved him…" Nojiko said nothing as her sister continued. "If could, if I had the choice, I would have stayed with them forever. And now one of them is gone forever…" Nojiko stood up and began to walk out of the house, before pausing at a window. Her eyes narrowed.

"Nami. We've got trouble. Marines." Nami whipped her head up. "They've probably come to get Arlong, but I'm not sure. Go out the back." Nami nodded, her self control back in place. Nojiko walked out the door and confronted the marines. Nami hesitated before placing an ear to the wall, intent on not leaving Nojiko. The head marine chuckled.

"Are you Nami, the thief?" Nami sucked in a breath. Nojiko snorted.

"That witch? She stopped living here years ago. She's with Arlong now."

"I find that doubtful. Our investigations have led us to believe that she is hiding stolen pirate treasure here." Nami hissed softly. "As of now, the government will now confiscate all of the stolen goods here." Nojiko gulped and laughed a little too forcedly.

"Are you deaf or stupid? There's no stolen treasure here! Instead of going after small-time thieves, you should be arresting Arlong!" the marine chuckled again.

"If there is no stolen treasure, then you won't mind if we search your property. Men!" he waved his arm. "Look for the stolen goods!" the marines fanned out into the orange groves, picking up shovels along the way. Nojiko's eyes widened before grabbing a shovel herself and hefting it onto her shoulders. She swung the metal end and struck a marine in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.

"Don't you dare touch my orange groves!" she looked the marine straight in the eye. "Is this what the marines do now! Invade people's private property and cause damage when there's a pirate killing and destroying! If you're not here to help us, then get the hell out of here!" the marine matched her glare.

"Don't talk as if you're superior. Men! Continue the search!" the marines continued to fan out. "You still haven't found it? It's not like we're looking for a needle in a haystack! It's one hundred million beli, for god's sake!" Nami's eyes shot wide open as a lead weight dropped into her stomach.

"No…" she breathed.

'SHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!' Arlong's laughter echoed in the annals of her mind. Genzo grabbed the marine by the scruff of his neck.

"Hey! How do you know the amount!" the marine looked down.

"Let go of me." Genzo shook him like a rag doll.

"You corrupt bastard! That money is for saving our village!" Nami sucked in yet another breath, the information being too much to bear. Nezumi chuckled.

"Are you saying this entire village is in on this theft and wishes to be arrested?" Genzo threw him to the ground and began to pummel him mercilessly. Nezumi screamed.

"Gyaaahh! Shoot him! Shoot him!"

"NO!" Nami screamed as she ran out of the cottage. The thunder of the rifles drowned out her words as the sheriff of cocoyashi village buckled to the ground. Nami ground to a stop, staring with horrified eyes at the growing pool of deep red blood around her father-figure. Nezumi hauled himself up before looking over at Nami.

"Oh? You're here?" Nami ran to him and smashed his face in, the bone snapping with an audible crack. Nezumi fell to the ground, writhing in pain as he clutched his horribly mangled nose. "GYAAAAAAHH!" Nami hauled Genzo to his feet and hoisted the man onto her back. Once she was sure he was secure, she ran while the marines were still busy with attending to their fallen captain, with Nojiko trailing behind her. She ran like she had never ran before, to cocoyashi village. The only place where he could possibly be safe.

Sogeki King held up his finished work, a pleased smile on his face.

"Excellent! This is perfect! I never knew I was so good with my hands!" he strapped the newly created belt to his waist before shoving his two pistols into the enlarged belt loops. "Alright! I, brave captain Sogeking, am ready for anything!"

"HELP!" a girl's voice rang out. Sogeki King looked up. A girl with a fiery head of orange hair had run into the village, a bleeding man on her back. A tan girl with blue hair and extensive tattoos followed her. "Help! Genzo's been shot!" Sogeki King ran to where she had placed the man. He looked over the shoulders of the crowd that was already there as the doctor questioned her.

"Who did this?"

"The marines, working for Arlong." The crowd gasped. Nojiko nodded as Nami shuddered.

"They stole all of the money to buy the village."

"Nami…"

"Na-Chan…" the crowd murmured. Nami, as Sogeki King gathered her name was, stood up suddenly, her eyes shaded. She ran off down the dirt road. Sogeki King stepped forward.

"What money, doctor? What was that about buying the village?" the doctor looked up.

"You're still here?" he looked down. "This town has been taken over by the mermen. If Nami could get one hundred million beli, she could free cocoyashi village from Arlong. H had promised her that. But he…! He broke his word! We survived eight years, hoping for our freedom! But he broke his word!" Sogeki King growled.

"That bastard! Doing that so a kind girl like that! He preyed on her for eight years, and he deceives her!" he pulled out one of his guns. "I've only been here for a few hours, but I already know what I want! I want vengeance for that poor girl!" the crowd roared with approval. Sogeki King fired a shot into the air. "I want to make the man who made that girl suffer pay for what he has done!" the crowd roared again. He fired another shot, further riling them up. "I want to go kick some merman ass! Who's with me!"

"RAAAAAAAHHH!" the crowd cheered.

"Then grab whatever you can and LET'S FIGHT!" Sogeki King emptied all of his rounds into the air as the crowd rushed off into their homes, grabbing clubs, frying pans, pitchforks, poles with kitchen knifes taped to them. Sogeki King snapped open the guns and filled the cartridge with exploding rounds. He snapped the rounds shut with a flick of his wrist. He started shouting to the reassembled crowd. "You have been fighting for your lives for over eight years, for a hope that was doomed from the start! Now, I say that we take what's ours!"

"YEAH!" the crowd shouted.

"Wait!" Sogeki King turned around and looked, along with the rest of the crowd, at the approaching Nami, the smile on her face obviously a farce. "Just, just wait a little longer! I'm going to try again! I'm going to get the money! It'll be easier this time! I have lots of experience! It's okay, you don't have to worry!" she laughed hollowly. "Compared to before…" she gulped. "It's okay! I'm fine!" she walked forward, her eyes closed in a fake smile. Sogeki King stepped forward and embraced her in a hug. Nami's eyes snapped open at his voice.

"Nami, is it?" her eyes widened to impossible sizes at his voice. "They are willing to die for you. They cannot be denied. They want Arlong's head on a platter. So stand aside." Sogeki King gently pushed her to the side, Nami not resisting at all. "LET'S FIGHT!"

"YEAH!" the people charged by her as she stared at the leader of the ragtag mob.

"Usopp…" her knees gave out underneath her. "no… you're dead…"

Luffy glowed an evil aura as he and his men silently made their way through the forest, being more intimidating while silent. Kuro pushed up his glasses, walking just as silently as his captain. Luffy opened his senses, opened all the blocks to the Mizu Mizu fruit, and let the power sweep over him. He felt his veins grow thick with power. Suddenly, he stopped, his eyes wide.

"Nami… Kuro, lead the others and go to Arlong Park and wait for me there. I have unattended business to take care of." He disappeared in a swirl of water. Kuro nodded to the empty clearing.

"As you wish, Luffy."

Luffy reappeared from a rivulet of blood as Nami continued to stab at the tattoo on her arm, oblivious to his sudden appearance.

"ARLONG! ARLONG! ARLONG! ARLO-" Luffy grabbed the knife out of her hand. Nami turned around, her face streaming with tears. The sight of her, crying and covered with her own blood struck a primal chord in Luffy. One that he embraced.

"Luffy…"

"Don't do that, Nami. I can feel you doing that." Nami looked down, crying.

"He… he…" she shuddered, the sobs wracking her body. "Luffy… please, leave… you may be like a monster, but you can't fight… a real one…"

"I can't do that." he replied in a calm voice. She grabbed a handful of sand and attempted to toss it at his face. All she managed to do was to kick up a cloud.

"GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! Go away! Go away…" her protests died out as she descended into a sobbing wreck. "Usopp's alive, so please… leave…" Luffy's eyes widened to the maximum, but restrained his voice. "He went off to die again… I don't want you guys to die…" she sobbed more for what felt like minutes, before turning to him. "Luffy… help me…"

Luffy said nothing, his eyes shaded. With slow preciseness, he grabbed his hat off of his head and placed it on Nami. He laid a hand on her wound and pushed, clotting the blood flow. He took a few steps forward before screaming to the heavens.

"DAMN STRAIGHT!" Nami's eyes widened as she realized what Luffy had just done.

"That's a pretty precious hat you have there." Luffy smiled.

"Aye. That it is. This is my most treasured possession. I wouldn't let this out of my sight for the world."

Nami looked at his retreating figure, tears crying once again. "Luffy…"

Luffy had remembered why he was fighting. That feeling of being stabbed in the arm, that feeling of absolute hopelessness when he had been omniscient, the feeling of tears and blood in Nami. That was why he was fighting. Not because he hated Arlong, not because Arlong had tried to kill Usopp. It was because he had made her cry. That was why he was fighting. Because he never wanted to see her cry again. Luffy looked at the three figures in front of him.

"Zoro. Sanji. Gin. I thought I told you to go to Arlong Park with Kuro and the others."

"You did tell us that." Sanji started.

"But we just didn't want to listen." Zoro continued.

"Where you go, we go." Gin finished. Luffy nodded.

"Let's go." The three looked up.

"Right!" they got up and walked shoulder to shoulder, cutting an imposing figure. Nami felt her tears dry up. These people, these _nakama_. They were all fighting for her. Because she was unhappy, they were willing to fight to the death.

"Luffy…"

Luffy looked up at the figures in the road, sighing.

"Does nobody listen to my commands anymore? What is this, Kuro?" Kuro pushed up his glasses, his cat claws already donned.

"You seemed extremely agitated about something, Luffy. I thought it might be best if we didn't leave you alone. Who knows what could happen when you're anxious?" Luffy chuckled silently.

"Very well then." Kuro joined the procession, turning the group into a v-formation with Luffy at the spearhead and the soldiers behind followed by the truck then the tank. "Let's make Arlong pay."

Sogeki King ran down the dirt road leading to the accursed pirate base, the villagers behind him whooping and screaming. The mob halted at the sight of two bloody and beaten swordsmen sitting in front of the door. Sogeki King stepped forward.

"Out of the way." The swordsmen looked up took one glance and nearly choked on their own saliva. "Well? Are you going to move or not? We're here for Arlong."

"u-u-u-uso-Usopp-aniki!" the one in Green shouted hysterically.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" the two jumped up and danced around each other, crying tears of joy. Sogeki King merely cocked his head and stared at them.

"You're weird. And who's Usopp?" the two bounty hunters halted mid-prance and stared at him.

"You're Usopp. That's your name." Sogeki King shook his head, fighting an unexplainable headache.

"No, it's not! My name is Sogeki King! That's the name I made for myself as a brave captain of the sea!" he cleared his head. "That doesn't matter! We're here for revenge for Nami!" the two bounty hunters sobered up.

"Usopp-aniki, we're waiting for Luffy and the others." Sogeki King growled.

"I'm telling you, my name is not Usopp!" Yosaku looked at Johnny, an unreadable expression on his face. He pointed at himself.

"Fine then. Sogeki King. Do you know who I am?" Sogeki King shook his head. "Do you know who Luffy is?" he shook his head again. "Zoro? Sanji? Nami? Kuro?" Sogeki King held up a hand.

"That last one sounds familiar. Where did I hear that one…" he shrugged. "Nope, don't know any of them." Johnny turned to Yosaku.

"Could it be that Arlong almost killing him made him forget everything?"

"It's possible. Near-death experiences have been known to do that."

"But what are we going to tell Luffy-aniki? We can't just say that Usopp doesn't remember anything about his crew." Sogeking's ears perked up at that last sentence.

"Say, who is this Luffy-aniki? Is he one of my subordinates?" Johnny and Yosaku whirled around, surprised.

"Usopp-aniki!"

"My name's not Usopp!" Sogeking yelled. "And we don't have time for this! We're here to defeat Arlong!" the two blades shifted back up as Yosaku and Johnny reassured their grip.

"We can't do that. We tried to avenge your death on our own, but we got our asses handed to us on a silver platter. The villagers couldn't do any better. We're waiting for the only people who can possibly do anything about it."

"But why?" Sogeki King shouted.

"They tried to kill you."

"And they made Nami-aniki cry."

"What further reason do we need?" the two bounty hunters spoke in unison. Nojiko growled as she pushed forward.

"No time!" the two blades were at her throat before she could take another step.

"We don't usually hurt women without bounties." Yosaku began.

"But if you try to go in there, you will be killed. We will do whatever is necessary to keep you from doing that." Johnny finished. Nojiko growled. Johnny and Yosaku looked over the heads of the mob and nodded. "There!"

Luffy walked in silence alongside his nakama and crew as he spotted the crowd of unruly villagers. Sanji threw the burned-out stub of a cigarette on the ground. Zoro shifted his grip on his single katana. Gin twirled his tonfa lightly in his grip. Kuro shoved up his glasses up his nose. The soldiers were prepping their guns. They walked in silence through the crowd. Luffy looked over his side and spotted the leader of the mob. The sight nearly made his heart stop. His forced himself to find his voice as he spoke.

"Usopp. You're alive." Usopp growled, but said nothing. Luffy looked at the dual pistols in his grip and quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing about them. "Come on. We're avenging our navigator." The water man wound up his fists and smashed the stone doors off their hinges. The rubble thudded to the ground, fist-prints imbedded in them. Arlong's head whipped up in abject shock, eyes narrowed. Luffy pulled his fist back up.

"Arlong. Your ass is grass."

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please leave any reviews or comments.


	16. Chapter 16: Luffy fights Arlong

hey everyone I felt like posting this chapter a little early.

dislaimer: I do not own one piece.

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CHAPTER 16: LUFFY FIGHTS ARLONG

"who the hell are you?" Luffy looked at Arlong with such loathing, such hatred that he swallowed his tongue for a moment.

"name's Luffy. I'm a pirate. remember it." Two of the nameless mermen stepped in front of him as he continued his silent procession to the merman boss.

"hey, hey, hey. you can't just come barging in here and expect to see the boss. You gotta…" Luffy grabbed the two by the head and slammed them together, knocking them unconscious.

"don't get in my way." Arlong spat on the ground.

"and what does a pirate want with me?" Luffy crouched down and went inside himself. he searched for all of the hatred that he had ever felt, all of the anger he had ever felt, all of the negative emotions he had ever felt and focused them into his fist. With a scream of rage, the sobbing Nami in his mind's eye, Luffy's fist smashed into Arlong's face, and the giant merman went tumbling ass-over-teakettle into the stone wall, destroying it completely. Luffy glared at him with mind-comsuming hatred.

"don't you dare make my navigator cry!"

"you bastard!" the mermen flunkies leaped out of the water and charged at Luffy. that idea immediately ground to a halt as they were blown back by explosions. Usopp and some of Luffy's men twirled the guns in their hands as they stepped forward.

"oi, oi, oi! Don't go charging in there all alone!" Luffy looked at him.

"it's not like I'm going to lose even if I'm alone."

"idiot. I'm telling you not to steal all the kills." Sanji walked up beside Usopp.

"Usopp's got the right idea, Luffy. save some for the rest of us."

"my name's not Usopp!"

"Luffy, are you sure you got the right guy?" Zoro said as he stepped up. "he says he's not Usopp, and he's way to brave too be him. not only that, I haven't heard a single lie out of him yet."

"of course! Lying is a filthy habit! I, brave captain Sogeking, have never told one lie in my life!" Sogeki King shouted.

"yep, definitely the wrong guy." Arlong glared. Hachi gaped. He pointed directly at the green-haired swordsman.

"that's him! That's the unknown swordsman!"

"that's Roronoa Zoro." Kuroobi said in a deadpan voice. Hachi stroked his 'chin'.

"as I thought, I knew it! He's the one who tricked me! he rode me… I mean, I gave him a ride…" Luffy looked over at Zoro, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"you rode him, Zoro? I never knew you were into men… let alone MERmen-"

"SILENCE! I KILL YOU!" Zoro screamed as he whipped out his katana and rushed Luffy. the captain merely blocked all three blades with a lazy flick of his sword.

"oi, oi, oi. You're supposed to be fighting them, not me. Besides I am dead." one of the mermen pointed at Sogeking with a wild look in his eye.

"look, it's that long-nose guy!" Hachi yelled out in surprise.

"huh! But Arlong-san killed that guy!"  
"arlong-san never fails to kill his prey. How is he still alive? Chuu." Chuu said astonishedly. Sogeking's mind had focused in on one word.

"you tried to KILL me!" he pointed at Arlong. "nobody tries to kill the great captain Sogeking and lives to tell the tale!" he whipped out one of his pistols and flicked a pellet into the cartridge. He snapped it shut and pointed it at Arlong. "Sogeking gunpowder bullet!" the bullet exploded in Arlong's face as the nameless flunkies gasped.

"Arlong-san!" the smoke cleared, and Arlong spat out a tiny amount of blood. Sogeking looked faintly surprised.

"what? You're still alive? The gunpowder must have been wet or something…"

"no blow from an inferior being will ever defeat me." Arlong chuckled. "pirates, eh? So that's how you guys know each other. You're the captain they were talking about. Tell me, how did you do the water trick?" Luffy growled.

"like I'd tell a bastard like you!" Arlong laughed.

"shahahahahaha! It doesn't matter, for what can inferior beings like you do against us?" Hachi laughed as he walked forward.

"you guys are idiots! What makes you think Arlong's going to waste time on you!" Luffy snorted.

"you're calling us idiots? Says the man who gave his enemies a free ride." Hachi stuttered.

"y-you inferior beings! I'll show you!" he turned around, cupped his elongated mouth, and began playing it like a trumpet, of all things. Luffy quirked an eyebrow.

"now, that's just hot, I don't care who you are. Wish I could play the trumpet with my mouth…" Kuro shook his head ruefully at the one thing his captain noticed. The ground began rumbling immediately after. Sogeking looked around.

"the hell? Some kind of secret weapon?" Hachi laughed wildly.

"you guys can be his next meal! Show yourself, Mohmoo!" a spray of water shot up as the sea cow emerged. "there you are, my mighty pet! Destroy our enemies!" Moomoo roared, only for it go die suddenly as it caught sight of Luffy.

"oh. It's just Mohmoo. I was worried for a second there."

"MOOmoo! MooOO MOO! (my liege! What are you doing here!)" it started trembling. "MooMoO MOoo? mOOO MOO! (are you one of the enemies? I don't know what to do!)" Luffy jerked his head at Arlong, telling him silently to follow orders. Mohmoo trembled some more before roaring loudly and moving towards Luffy. Sogeking yelped.

"do something, straw hat!" Luffy started to have electricity surge around him with purple and black light glowing around him. The air become colder and felt like it was harder to breath. Then a purple beam of light shot up into the sky with purple and black bolts of electricity surging. Everyone has to shield their eyes from the light and the wind. When the wind and light dies down what everyone sees is something that horrifies and terrorfies both sides except for the soldiers. Standing in Luffy's place is a hooded figure standing 50 feet tall with a 55 foot tall scythe.

Mohmoo freezes and starts to tremble even more at seeing Luffy's appearence.

"WHAAAA!" Hachi shouted incredulously. Arlong's eyes were wide as saucers.

"Th-The Reaper!"

"**Now Mohmoo.****I believe it would be wise for you to still to try to charge me.**" Luffy says as he twirls his scythe. The massive sea king was really scared at seeing and hearing this. Mohmoo ends up passing out from the scene in front of him. Luffy then turns to Arlong.

"**I didn't come here to fight small fry! I came to kick your ass!**" Arlong opened his eyes, the epitome of a shark circling it's prey.

"well, that's just perfect. I was just thinking about how to kill you too."

Luffy stretched his left hand and the ocean started to churn and started to recede from Arlong Park to the surprise of Arlong.

"You have a devil fruit."

"**Yes**."

Luffy then makes the water harder and makes a wall keeping the water out. He stretches his hand and returns his scythe and summons his Nodachi surprising Arlong who has wide eyes.

"Two devil fruits?"

"**Yes**." Luffy says as he reverts back to his normal form and turns to water creating a clone.

"Captain is that what you were practicing on the ship?" Gin asks.

Luffy-clone nodded.

"Yes. I have close to the same power as the original." Luffy-clone says pointing to Luffy. Gin nodded, the proverbial light bulb flickering on.

"ah. A clone. I get it." Luffy grinned.

"yeah! And I finally figured out how to become autonomous!" Gin quirked an eyebrow.

Arlong's eyes narrowed, clearly missing something vital to the conversation.

"who the hell are you? Besides being the Reaper?" Luffy spread his arms wide, a solemn look on his face.

"I have many names, and I have no name, for they drift away with the currents."


	17. Chapter 17: Luffy Vs Arlong part 2

CHAPTER 17: LUFFY VS. ARLONG PART II

Arlong's eyes widened slightly.

"You… know the sea lore?" Arlong cackled maniacally. "SHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, this just keeps getting better and better! I think I'm going to enjoy killing you, human!" Luffy-clone cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, but why now? We're the main course! Why not let some of the appetizers go first? After all, fish does go down well…" Arlong cackled.

"shahahaha! If you weren't an inferior race, I might have asked you to join my crew!" Arlong looked over at the idling mermen. "You heard the human. Give us a show."

"Nyuu! I will enjoy my revenge, swordsmen!" Hatchan cried out as he sucked in a breath.

"tako-hachi-BLACK!" a cloud of black ink sprayed out in a wide arc, forcing the two swordsmen to leap out of the way. Kuro flipped his glasses up.

"It would be a crippling blow if he were to hit us with that ink. Avoid that at all cost." The pirate captain leaped back and sliced at the octopus man's head, shaving off an entire spike of hair. He clutched at his head.

"Nyuu! You bastard! I'm gonna…" Kuro tensed. "Do nothing. I mean, it's only hair, it'll grow back." Kuro blinked.

"Eh?"

"Roronoa and Kuro! You cannot defeat me! I have six arms to your four! Isn't it great? Isn't it wonderful?" he crowed as he waved his arms like a hula dancer. Kuro pushed up his glasses, a bemused expression on his face.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hatchan blinked, before growling.

"Kuro! Nyuu! Tako-Hachi-Punch!" he swung his left fists at Kuro, barely grazing his face. He jumped back as Zoro swung in. "special-move-octopus-catching-the-blade-with-bare-hands!" he slapped his hands together as the blade traveled downwards.

Silence…

"OWW! That hurt!" Hatchan yelped as blood trickled down his forehead.

"We don't have time to play around with you!" Zoro roared, annoyance finally clouding his judgment. He panted as his wound throbbed painfully. 'Shit… I still haven't healed yet…' Kuro pushed up his glasses, eying Zoro.

"Zoro. Allow me to fight him. Your wounds still have not healed yet."

"Like hell… I ain't losing to anybody…" his body stiffened as he slumped to the ground, Kuro's hand were where his neck was. He pushed up his glasses.

"Rest a while. I will battle your foe." He slowly turned to face the octopus in front of him. "My plan involves your demise. And my plans never fail." He lunged forward, pointer finger extended. Hatchan smacked the blade away, only to duck when the other four fingers followed.

"Nyuu!" Sanji stared at the cat-like captain, uncertainty in his eyes.

"He…"

"Getting distracted by them will mean your death!" Kuroobi shouted as he swung a fin at Sanji. He whirled around, only for the blow to be intercepted by a tonfa.

"Oi, oi, oi. I thought I said that I was your opponent." Gin swung the cannonball at Kuroobi's face. "Forgetting who you're fighting will spell YOUR death!"a fin shot up and blocked the blow. Kuroobi stared at Gin slightly.

'He's strong… I felt that all the way through the bone…' Gin continued to hammer away at Kuroobi, hoping to get in at lucky shot. His tonfa caught Kuroobi's pointer finger. The stingray merman hissed in pain as the digit gave an audible crack. Gin smirked. "Oops. Did I break something?"

"You damn human…" Kuroobi growled. Kuro shoved up his glasses, staring at Hatchan, hanging from a pole.

"tako-hachi-number… nine." And he continued to hang upside down from the pole. Kuro stared at him for the longest time, before speaking.

"You're not coming down from there on your own, are you?" Hatchan grinned.

"Nyu~." Kuro grinned.

"Just the way I like it." In an instant, he was at Hatchan's height, grinning as he ran up the pole.

"Huh!" Hatchan yelped as Kuro ran past him, to the top of the pole. Quick as he was running, he stopped, and let gravity take its toll.

"Kitty in the tree!" Kuro began slicing his arms back and forth across the pillar, mechanical as clockwork as he fell. Hatchan screamed as the two hands passed across him. The suction cups on his arms failed, and he fell to the ground. Kuro landed on his feet lightly as Hatchan thumped to the ground. Kuro pushed up his glasses, easy as you please. "Hiss."

CRACK! The pillar slid into a hundred pieces, as thin as where Kuro had sliced it. With a thunder of stone, the stones leaves fell to the ground, creating a great cloud of dust. Kuro grinned.  
"I've never been too good with creating new attacks, but I felt inspired with that one." The octopus merman forced himself to his feet, growling curses at him.

"You bastard… I'm not even serious yet!" he launched himself at another pillar and shimmied up it to the next level.

"You want a leveled fight?" Kuro ran up the pillar after the octopus. As soon as he took a step on the second floor, he was forced onto the defensive as six massive sabers slashed at his face. "Ghhh!"

"Behold! Six-sword style!" Hatchan swung again at Kuro's face. "You may have ten swords, but your blades are flimsy, and easily broken! They lack any power behind your strokes!" Kuro swiped at the octopus' stomach. Hatchan leaped away.

"Shut up!" he lunged forward, pointer finger extended. "I'll kill you!" Hatchan bashed the blade away.

"However, with six swords, I can focus all of my power into the attacks, and overpower your defense!" he swung again with all six, and Kuro was forced to one knee.

'Damn… he's right, dammitall. He's got me beat in terms of strength… but he's no match for my mind…' Kuro rolled out from under him and began to dodge the blows. 'There's no way I could possibly defeat him… not with his six arms… I need to disable his arms…' his eyes widened. 'That's it!' he sprinted with his incredible speed around the octopus, cat claws at the ready. With a yell, he plunged his blades in a W form into three of Hatchan's arms. Hatchan screamed as Kuro pulled the blades out a smirk on his face.

"You bastard! That hurt!" Hatchan whirled about, only to stare at his left side confusedly. "What! Why can't I move my arms!"

"Because I disabled your arms." Kuro pushed up his glasses, an incredibly pleased smirk on his face. "An octopus has the majority of their neurons in their arms. Two-thirds, to be precise. If you can hit them precisely, or attack enough, the neurons would be severed, and the brain can no longer control them. Don't worry, I doubt it's permanent."

"YOU BASTARD!" with a mighty roar, the octopus swung his entire right side of swords onto Kuro's cat claws. With an almighty crunch, the finger blades snapped. Kuro's eyes widened as Hatchan slammed into his chest. "I'll kill you!" he swung again. Kuro only barely raised his right hand to block. With another crunch, all five blades on that hand snapped as well.

"No…" Kuro scrambled away. The octopus looked ready to kill him. Kuro continued to scoot away from him, when his hand touched something cold. His eyes widened as he realized what he had a grasp of.

"Today, you DIE!" Hatchan swung. Kuro tossed the snapped finger blade at Hatchan. It punctured straight into his chest. Hatchan's eyes widened as he gulped for air. With trembling eyes, he slowly looked down at his chest, at the slowly growing pool of blood under his shirt. "What…? You… killed me…?" Hatchan stumbled backwards before toppling over. Kuro panted, exhausted.

"Hahhh… hahhh… hahhh… I probably… punctured… one of his hearts… hahhh…" he gulped down a gasp of air. "Hahhh… damn… I need… to work on… my endurance… hahhh…" he picked up a broken blade. "Damn… I'll need… to get some… replacements at a blacksmith… later…" he dropped to the ground and closed his eyes. "I'm going to… take a short rest… now…" and Kuro's breathing stilled.

'I believe it is time to end this.' Luffy thinks

"Gin, Sanji grab Zoro and get out. Where is Kuro?" Luffy orders and asks.

"We don't know captain. What do you plan to do?" Gin asks.

"You'll see Gin." Luffy says as Gin, Sanji carry Zoro out of Arlong Park. Gin and Sanji see Luffy with something in his hand and holds it to his mouth. What he says makes the two pale.

"Iowa commence firing. Gunther commence firing as well."

"Yes sir!" two replies come. The villagers see the men with weird guns start firing hitting mermen as well a tan machine of some kind firing. They all look to see a huge grey ship just on the other side of the wall that Luffy had made start firing huge guns at Arlong Park.

-One bombardment and five minutes later-

The villagers all they can do is stare in shock with jaws on the ground at the destruction left from the grey ship, the tan machine which they learned is called a tank and from the30-40 armed men. Arlong Park had collapsed and Kuro dug himself out in a bad mood for being woke-up rudely to being n a collapsed building. He then looks to see the place with bodies everywhere and he loses his foul mood quick which is replaced with happiness for not having to be receiving that if he was not on Luffy's crew. He walks over to Luffy and the other's. He notices Nami's blood covered shoulder with Luffy using his Mizu no mi ability to heal her stab wound.

"What is the plan now captain?" Kuro asks once he got close enough.

"We will be staying at Coyashi Island for a month to train the villagers how to fight, and to train you guys on the Iowa. So you and Gin need to try getting your crew here so they can be trained for to enter the Grand Line."

"Aye captain." Kuro and Gin say as they dismiss themselves to contact their crews.

Luffy then walks towards Arlong Park and climbs to the top of the symbol of oppression, on top of the symbol of Nami's sadness.

"NAMI!" he screamed. Nami looked up at him with awestruck eyes. "YOU ARE MY NAKAMA!" Nami slowly lifted a hand to her mouth, her head nodding as her eyes uncontrollably leaked.

There was absolutely no denying it in Nami's mind. This single declaration, this single act of defeating Arlong, this simple fact that _she was his nakama_, it made it perfectly clear in her mind. It could not have been more clear if it were as bright as the sun.

She had fallen for Luffy. She had fallen head over heels, fallen irrevocably, fallen hopelessly, fallen helplessly. She had fallen for Luffy, for her captain, for her _nakama_. It was clear to her now. There was no denying it. And it felt good to realize it. It felt good to know that she had someone that she loved. It made her feel…

"He won!" a villager whispered almost disbelievingly.

"He won!" Gen grinned madly.

"We won!" Nako stared happily.

"WE WON!" Johnny and Yosaku shouted together. The entire cocoyashi village broke into raucous cheers.

"ARLONG PARK, HAS FALLEN!" they grabbed Luffy bodily and threw him up in the air, cheering all the while. Luffy grinned like a lunatic as they held him high above their heads. However, a hand slipped, and with a loud thump, Luffy was head down on the ground. Luffy simply laughed it off.

"Not the first time, I've done that, but it never gets old!" he suddenly felt a weight on his head that he knew, and a hand that he didn't. He looked behind him, and saw Nami with a shy smile. Luffy jumped to his feet and slapped her hand. "We won."

"We won." She whispered back. He giggled happily, and it wasn't long before she was as well. "We won."

"That's enough, scumbags!" a voice shouted out. Luffy turned and scowled. Nezumi, with a poultice over his nose, was standing there, with a contingent of marines by his side.

"Not him!" a villager shouted. He chuckled.

"Well, this must be my lucky day! Good job. I enjoyed the show. But I never would've thought, that these mermen would be defeated by you silly pirates. But thanks to you, Arlong's bounty, as well as all of Arlong park's riches, will belong to us now! Everyone, put down your weapons! I, captain Nezumi of the marine's sixteenth battalion, will take over from here~!" Luffy looked at the man and snapped his fingers. Nezumi and his men soon found themselves with 30-40 guns pointed at them.

"You need to shut up. You're ruining the good mood." Gin muttered, an evil aura surrounding him. With a slam of his tonfa, Nezumi was down and out for the count. His marines did nothing in fear of Luffy's men and their guns.

"What, are the marines accepting anybody who walks through their doors now?"

"They are pretty weak wouldn't you say Nami?" Luffy quipped with his men still aiming at Nezumi and his men.

Nezumi's swollen eyes widened at the name. Nami walked over to his body and knelt down, placing a tender hand on his cheek.

"This is for trying to kill Gen-san, and ruining Bellemere's oranges." She stood up and smashed her staff into his face, sending him skidding over the water.

"GHAAAAHH!" Nezumi scrambled back for shore. Nami was there waiting for him. She grabbed his whiskers and yanked painfully.

"You will help clean up after the mermen, and reconstruct Goza village! And you can't touch even a bit of the mermen's riches! They belong to the people of the island! And one more thing… GIVE ME BACK MY MONEY!"

"I don't want it anymore…" he mumbled around swollen lips.

"Excellent choice of words." Luffy says with a smirk. Nami dropped his face, and he scurried out to the opening to the sea.

"This won't be forgotten, you lousy pirates! You, straw hat guy, you're the captain! You're name's Luffy! You're gonna be big after this! And you! Kuro of a thousand plans!" Kuro stiffened at his title. "We know now that you're still alive! You can't escape us! Mark my words!" he swam away. Sanji tapped his cigarette ash away.

"He said we're going to be big."

"How'd he know I'm gonna be pirate king?"

"He wasn't talking about that, idiot!" Sogeking shouted. "Honestly, how in the hell can you be a pirate captain?"

"He's the… captain… because he is…" Zoro muttered for the first time, forcing himself to his feet. "Kuro… you bastard…" Kuro shrugged.

"You were about to pass out on your feet. I saved you the trouble. It wouldn't be good for the first mate to die." Kuro held up his bladeless gloves. "Besides, I think I've been punished enough. I am completely powerless right now. And the marines know I'm alive. That is punishment enough."

"Hey, everyone! We can't just celebrate this by ourselves! We have to carry the news to the whole island!" doctor Nako proclaimed. The villagers ran off, whooping and cheering wildly.

"Arlong Park has… ARLONG PARK HAS FALLEN!" Luffy looked after the screaming horde with a smile on his face, that slowly melted away into a terrifying grimace. With a mighty leap, he pinwheeled his arms in the air.

"HAPY OOMIZU!" a massive tidal wave rose up once again and smashed into the remains of Arlong park, scattering it to the four corners of the island. Luffy slowly walked toward the body in the middle, his aura slowly turning darker and darker. When he stopped by the body, his eyes were full of anger, full of hatred, full of loathing, full of _rage_. He grabbed Arlong by the neck and hoisted him into the air until even his towering frame was dangling by his toes. Arlong, amazingly, came to at that point. He quickly realized where he was, and he felt _fear_. Fear of a human, fear of a low-life human, fear of an _inferior_ _race_ but this low-life human also was the Reaper. The harvenger of souls.

He flailed helplessly in the air, slowly having the air in his lungs squeezed out.

"Please… have mercy… have compassion… I'll never come back here… I have money… I have lots of it…"

"_NAMI'S_ money!" Luffy growled. The few who were still at the park watched the spectacle, knowing where this charade was going. "You intend to pay me off with the money you have stolen from the countless innocents that you have terrorized?" he drew Arlong's face close to his. "Did you show Nami _mercy?_ Did you show her _COMPASSION!"_ the grip around Arlong's neck began tightening. "Today, you die!" Luffy says summoning his scythe much to the horror of Arlong and those watching knowing what Luffy is about to do.

"Luffy, no!" a voice from the water shouted as Gold Roger leaped up, shocking everybody there as to where the hell the odd man that knew their captain came from. Luffy turned his gaze on roger, and the breath in Roger's lung froze for a split second.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut his head from his body, roger."

"Remember your vows! Remember the vows you took when you took up your mantle!" roger yelled. Luffy"s hand tightened on the staff of the scythe, before his other hand goes limp and tossing him away like a limp rag. Nami ran up to the strange man and slapped him in the face.

"You bastard! Do you realize what you just did! You robbed us of our revenge!"

"Revenge is a bloody thing, but necessary. This is murder in cold blood." Gold Roger said solemnly.

"Why are you defending him! Who are you!" Nami was on the point of hysteria. Gold Roger spread his arms wide.

"I have many names, and I have no name, for they drift with the currents." Arlong's eyes widened, more fearful than they had ever been in his life.

"Oh my god… it's true… it's really true…. you… you're real… you're not just a fairy tale!" he threw himself at the feet of Luffy and roger, hands clasped over his head. "Please, sires! Please! Have mercy! Have mercy on me! I have no idea! I had no idea you were real!" Luffy kicked the groveling merman in the side, toppling him over to the side.

"Shut up. Be grateful to roger here. Without him, you'd be dead." Arlong looked up to mercifully thank his savior, only for his robust blue skin to turn a deathly pale white. He pointed a trembling finger at roger.

"No… no way… you! Y-y-y-y-you're dead! You were executed by the marines twenty years ago!" his voice was bordering on hysteria.

"Death cannot stop who I am." Roger responded in an even tone while Luffy was swearing about his father under his breath. Zoro surreptitiously reached into his harameki and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. He scribbled a few words down and slid them back in as roger continued talking. "I will continue to exist as long as my will has not been passed on." He turned to Luffy. "Luffy. He has been suitably chastised. I suggest you take him into-"

The air visibly turned to ice. "NO. If you are about to say what I think you are about to say, then I will expose what you really are, and then I will clobber you into a bloody pulp for even THINKING that. If you were about to say that I let this merman, this _MURDERER_ become my nakama…" Gold Roger smashed Luffy to the ground. Blood flew from Luffy's mouth.

"You, clobber ME, into a bloody pulp! You, who know what I am better than anyone! You are one hundred years too early to tell me that! I don't care if you are the Reaper!" he walked towards Luffy's fallen frame. "Don't you EVER forget who the master is! I may have taught you all of your tricks, but I most CERTAINLY have not taught you all of MINE!"

"This merman has killed dozens of innocent men, women and children! He has caused endless suffering to countless more! And you suggest that I let him become my NAKAMA! You go too far, roger!"

"We are impartial to all of that! We are the protectors of the realm! If any merman willingly submits to our will, then we cannot harm them! You WILL recruit him!" Gold Roger roared.

"Like hell." Luffy seeths.

"You will or I will take from you the very reason that you continue to exist!" Luffy's eyes widened and clutched at the golden hourglass around his neck.

"You wouldn't dare…"

"Try me. It is mine by right. You are just borrowing it for a while. I can take it back whenever I please." Luffy scowled as darkly as possible. The rest of the crew, and the few villagers knew that they were missing something vital, but to them, it looked like the new man was somehow blackmailing their savior into SAVING Arlong. Kuro pushed up his glasses with his bladeless gloves.

"This is becoming rather entangled." Luffy was silent, before speaking.

"… One hair. If he puts one HAIR, out of line, I will kill him where he stands, and then I will hunt your ass down and slaughter you, too." He whirled around and stalked away towards the village. Nami reached out a hand for his shoulder.

"Luffy…"

"Leave me. I'm heading back to the ship." His aura was almost black as night by the time that he dipped over the horizon. Arlong looked up to Gold Roger, who sighed in frustration.

"Well, that could have gone better…" he walked over to the prone body of Kuroobi, bodily picked him up, and tossed him into the sea. He slapped his hands together, as if in prayer. "Mizu Mizu salacia zenchi." A waterspout shot up from the water, with the stingray merman inside. The onlookers watched with fascination as the many wounds covering his body slowly knitted themselves back together. When the merman was injury-free, the spout turned at a forty-five degree and spat him out on the concrete. Kuroobi coughed up water, and looked around.

"What…? What happened here?"

"My brethren! You are okay!" Arlong shouted. He looked to Gold Roger.

"Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet. I'm not done. And you still have Luffy to deal with. Hopefully he will be accepting after he has cooled off."

"Hello? Helloooo!" Nezumi screamed into the den den mushi.

"Yes, marine headquarters here." the voice on the other end said in a bored monotone.

"Marine headquarters, hello! This is the marine's sixteenth battalion captain Nezumi, marine code #00733! I have a report to make!"

"No need to shout, we can hear you." the other end said, rubbing out his ear.

"Listen up!" Nezumi shouted, ignoring the man's advice. "There's a pirate that wears a straw hat, named Luffy! He and his six accomplices are all against the government!" the marine scribbled down the name. "They were able to crumble Arlong Park and defeat the fearsome Arlong and his mermen! The need to be feared! I wish to place a heavy bounty on the head of their captain, 'straw hat Luffy'! I'm sending his picture right now!"

"roger. Wait did you say Luffy?" The marine asks.

" addition! One of his accomplices has been confirmed to be the infamous, 'Kuro of a thousand plans'!" Nezumi shouted. The marine straightened up. Now THERE was some interesting news.

"And you say that he is one of straw hat Luffy's accomplices? That he serves under him?"

"Yes! I wish to reinstate and heighten his bounty!" the marine furiously scribbled down the info.

"The authenticity of your claims will be reviewed at a later date. After we send it to the higher-ups."

"You got it! He is a villainous pirate! I want him DEAD OR ALIVE! I WANT A HIGH BOUNTY ON HIS HEAD!" he slammed the receiver down, cutting the connection. Almost immediately, the den den mushi began burbling.

"Puru puru puru puru puru. Puru puru puru puru puru." He picked it up.

"Yes!"

"Is this captain Nezumi of the sixteenth battalion?" a cultured voice said. Nezumi stilled his breathing and cleared his throat. This sounded like a higher-up.

"Yes. This is Nezumi."

"After reviewing your financial reports in a corruption investigation, we have found that you are gaining a substantial amount of undocumented money for the past eight years. Until we find the source of this unknown money, your leadership of the sixteenth battalion is suspended." Nezumi dropped the receiver like a hot potato. 'They know!'

"Furthermore, you are being placed under house arrest. Our troops have already arrived at your base and have you completely surrounded."

"HUH! NOO!" he screamed. The last official act of captain Nezumi, leader of the marine sixteenth battalion, was to begin the rise of the return of the Straw Hat Reaper's infamy but would be known as Luffy the Straw Hat Reaper. Because of Nezumi, his name would ring around the world.


	18. Chapter 18:Luffy s and Nami s dance

CHAPTER 18: LUFFY'S AND NAMI'S PRIVATE DANCE

A man walked through the streets of cocoyashi village, Arlong meekly following behind him. the villagers slinked back and screamed, terrified. Arlong did not move a muscle to retaliate as he followed after the man.

"you do realize that you deserve this treatment?" the man said to Arlong.

"yes, my liege. Whatever you say." Arlong bowed his head as they walked to the Iowa.

Luffy slammed his fist against the wall of the captain's quarters, furious.

"damn it! And Damn that Roger! How DARE he use that against me! and making me recruit that damn merman… I should hunt him down and lop off his head!"he growled, before a voice called out from outside.

"get out here, Luffy! your recruit is waiting for you!" an unfamiliar voice exclaimed. Luffy's eyebrow twitched as he practically blew the door off it's hinges.

"who the hell are you!" he shouted at the stranger at Arlong's side. The man clutched at his chest, feigning a mortal wound.

"Luffy, I'm hurt. you don't know who I am?" the man's body shimmered, and Gold Roger stood there, grinning like the cat who caught the canary. Luffy gaped like a gasping fish, his eyes slowly, ever so slowly, gaining a murderous sparkle.

"Roger." he breathed. Gold Roger grinned.

Luffy glared as he led Arlong up onto the ship. Only after Roger and Arlong had entered the captain's quarters did he realize that he had completely failed to distract him from his hatred. He turned to Arlong.

"I have no choice. You're on the crew, Arlong." Arlong bowed as low as his massive frame would allow him. Arlong leaves with Roger.

"thank you, my liege. I was worried that straw hat would be… more furious than that." Gold Roger chuckled.

"yes, he would have been furious. That's why I nipped it in the bud." Arlong cocked his head, clearly not understanding. "Luffy is a very intelligent man. That is why he has Kuro of a thousand plans on his crew as well as the second in command of the disbanded krieg pirates. " Arlong's eyes widened.

He melted into a puddle of water and flew through the air towards the ruins of Arlong park. Along the way, he spotted a prone body laying in a rice field, charred. Roger landed and stuck a finger to his neck. "alive. But damn! what the hell could have done this to him?" he twirled his arms around, and the water flowed into a condensed bubble. Chuu floated up into the center of the bubble of water. "Mizu Mizu salacia zenchi." The broken and charred flesh flaked off of him as the broken body of Chuu healed itself. When the process was done, the bubble burst, and Chuu flopped down on the road. Roger slung his body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes."alright then!" he melted into water, and the body of Chuu floated towards Arlong park.

Kuroobi was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that the legend of the two kings was real, and that he had met both, when Chuu's unconscious body flopped in front of him. Gold Roger reformed into a body. Kuroobi went into a kneel. "my liege. How may I serve you?"

"at ease, my subject." Gold Roger waved his hand, and Kuroobi stood. "how is Hatchan doing?" he looked over at the octopus, who was still unconscious after his healing. Kuroobi grimaced.

"well, he'll live, thanks to you. but beyond that, I have no idea. I think the blade in his chest hit one of his hearts, and there were puncture wounds in his left arms, and they show no signs of movement." Roger frowned.

"Kuro hit the neurons in his left side, paralyzing his arms. If he wasn't in battle, and he had a lot better aim, it would definitely be permanent. But he was, and he doesn't, so I can't tell. And you?" Kuroobi's hand went to his back.

"it's… hard to move my lower half. The human got in a really good hit on my spine. I think he may have dislocated it a bit. I can do it with effort, but I am in no shape for battle."

"neither of you three are." Roger confirmed. "we don't have a doctor with us, and I highly doubt that cocoyashi village doctors would be willing to look at you three, seeing as what you did to them." Kuroobi grimaced.

"it was what Arlong-san told us to-"

"I'm not blaming anybody. I'm merely stating the facts. And we can't have anybody on the ship that isn't combat ready." Roger interrupted. Kuroobi's face fell as he realized what he was saying.

"you aren't taking us with you. you are leaving us three behind."

"in a nutshell, yes. Once the other two regain consciousness, go into the sea and find a merman doctor that will treat you. my healing is good, but it's only a temporary fix. Once you are healed up, you are free to do whatever you want. However, keep in fighting shape. We may call on you in the future." Kuroobi stroked his chin.

"well… Hachi, Chuu and I have always wanted to open a Takoyaki stand together… we joined the sunny pirates before we could do that, but now, I guess we could rekindle that idea…  
roger grinned.

"that's a fabulous idea! You have no idea when you are going to need a floating food stand. May I suggest basing it in the Grand Line? You'll get more customers there. and there are more merfolk in the Grand Line, so you could hire more help. Make it a merfolk food stand." Kuroobi nodded, a small smile on his face.

"I like that. thank you, my liege." Gold Roger began walking away.

"no trouble at all. And remember. We aren't abandoning you. We're just taking you off duty for a while. Putting you on medical leave, if you will." He melted into the sky, and Kuroobi was left with his words, and the will to open a takoyaki stand.

The Straw Hats have been at Coyashi Island for two days. The crews belonging to Kuro and Gin had arrived for the training session for a month to prepare for the Grand Line. Luffy has yet to walk off the Iowa. He is still in his quarters pissed and won't see anybody. He ends up being in his quarters for five more days before coming off the ship. He walks around the village with villagers thanking him as he walks by.

"Nojiko!" a boy shouted as the woman downed a mug of grog. She looked over at the running boy, a surprised look on her face.

"oh, chabo!"

"I had a look at Arlong park! It's not even there anymore! No rubble, no stones, nothing!" Nojiko's eyes widened slightly at that. that was a lot more damage than she had seen. "where is he? The man who defeated Arlong! He's still here, right!" she pointed over at a house.

"he's right there." chabo turned and saw a teenager, no more than seventeen, leaning against the wall, a straw hat shadowing his eyes. He turned and pointed at him, uncertainty in his eyes. She nodded. "yeah, you can talk to him." chabo shyly inched his way up to the savior.

"ummm… are you the guy that beat Arlong?" the savior looked down at him and smiled lightly.

"yeah. Name's Monkey D. Luffy. what do you want?" chabo felt his mouth go dry, before bowing deeply.

"thank you! thank you for freeing us! We've worked so hard to survive… you freed us from Arlong…" Luffy looked away from chabo, a distant look in his eyes.

"… don't thank me, kid. You don't know what I've really done." Chabo looked up at him with confusion, before plowing straight onward.

"Uhh… you're a really great person, for doing that, without any reward… and, uh… I hope that I become just like you when I grow up!" Luffy looked at him, mild shock in his eyes, before snorting.

"yeah right, kid. You couldn't become like me in a thousand years." Chabo was starting to get mad at this stranger. He may have saved them, but he didn't have to be so rude!

"oh, yeah! Well, I'll prove you wrong! I'm gonna become better than you, when I grow up! and then, when I'm greater than you, you'll say, 'oh, why wasn't I nicer to chabo-sama! Why!'" Luffy started to laugh, when a memory surfaced. Suddenly, the image of himself, ten years younger, drifted across his vision, settling right across chabo. He suddenly knew what Shanks felt like, all those years ago. To have the destiny of a child in the palm of your hands. He grinned as he hunkered down to his height

"really now? You're gonna become better than I am?" chabo nodded furiously, an obstinate look on his face. "well, if you're gonna do that, then you're gonna have to train your ass off, every day! There is no slacking off, if you want to become better than I am! How old are you?"

"I'm eight!" he proclaimed. Luffy felt his heart give a thump.

'just like me… and the cycle begins anew…' he grinned. "well, now! That's right about when I started! You've got no excuse now!" the boy looked like he was about to protest, but kept his mouth shut. Luffy looked him straight into the eye. "if you're gonna meet me at the top, then there is one thing that I have to tell you."

"what?" chabo asked.

"make your way through like living it to the fullest, because you never know when it might end. and never let someone else make your own descisions for you. because if you do, then you'll be forced to do things you don't want to. Things you'll probably regret for the rest of your life. Like I just did in this town." He pushed himself off and began walking away slowly. "see you 'round, kid." Chabo stared at his retreating back, pondering his words.

"Arlong is alive!" a man shouted, running through the streets. The crowds immediately stopped dancing, and a woman screamed.

"Arlong and his mermen are alive! They were being led to a pirate ship docked at the harbor! The one that belongs to the man who defeated him!" chabo's head whipped around, staring at where Luffy was, only to blink.

The man in the straw hat was gone.

"like I just did in this town…" chabo echoed the parting words. "he defeated Arlong, then he saved him…?"

"so, do you think it can be removed?" Nami said as she lay topless on the bed, as nako swabbed at her shoulder with an alcohol swab.

"leave it to me. I've been thinking of how to remove it." He fiddled with some instruments on his table. "of course, there will be some scarring. That's the nature of these things." Nami smiled wistfully.

"I was stupid. I knew it couldn't take it off." Nako frowned at her words as he worked at removing the tattoo of the Arlong pirates. Nami thought to herself for a moment, before speaking again. "hey, doctor."

"hmm?"

"I'd like you to make a new one over it." She held up a piece of paper, before pulling it back down again. "no, it's not finished. Do you have a pencil?" nako, after a moment of hesitation, got up and grabbed a pencil from his desk. "thank you." she took the pencil and quickly scribbled an added design onto the tattoo. "there. now it's done. I'd like you to make a tattoo of this." She gave it to him. he folded it open and looked at it once. He chuckled.

"alright, Nami. I think I can guess why you made that addition." She smiled

"I think it fits. Don't you think?" he smiled back at her.

"I think it does, Nami. I think it does."

Luffy walked nonchalantly through the partying crowds, the villagers giving small bows of their heads before turning away back to their dancing. He sighed.

"Man, word travels fast in this place. Look what you've done, roger. You've turned this entire village against me."

"It was for your own good." The man responded. "And what the hell are you wearing?" Luffy looked down at his regular attire.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gold Roger growled.

"What does- what does- are you joking, my boy! You can't wear this to a party! Luffy, you've got to get dressed up, pull out the Sunday clothes, make yourself fancy! It's a party!" Luffy sweatdropped.

"You really like parties, don't you? And like hell I'm dressing up."

"Damn right I do! I love parties!" he responded. He materialized suddenly and dragged Luffy behind an alley. "Now, come with me!" he moves to grab the hourglass around his neck but Luffy dodges.

Luffy glared.  
"What are you planning?" Gold Roger shrugged.

"It's a party. Now, come!" he grabbed Luffy by the hand but Luffy turns to water and gets out of Roger's grasp.

"Like hell I'm dressing up. I'm going back to my ship."

"You can't be serious?" Gold Roger declared. Luffy glared.

"Yes I am serious. Now leave me be." Gold Roger just stared as Luffy left. Luffy walks out of the alley but was immediately stopped when a pair of slender arms wrapped around his waist.

"Well, well, well! Haven't seen a cutie like you around here in a long time! What's your name, handsome?" Luffy stiffened. He turned around. The woman got a look at his face and jerked backwards. "Luffy!"

"Nojiko! What are you doing!" Luffy said to the older woman. Nami's sister immediately whipped around, hoping that he had not caught sight of her blush.

"Oh, ah, err… nothing! Nothing!" an awkward silence between the two grew, around all of the merriment of the festival. "Umm… that's a really nice outfit you have there. I didn't recognize you at all without your hat." Luffy put a questioning hand up to his head, only to realize that his treasured straw hat wasn't there. He silently swore.

"Dammit, roger!" he grinned sheepishly. "Err, yeah. I left it back at the ship." The silence grew. "So… yeah. I'll… be seeing you." Luffy slowly walked away, trying to contain the growing disgust that his navigator's sister hit on him. Gold Roger cackled maniacally.

Luffy grumbled. A squeal grabbed his attention.

"Oh my god! Look at that guy! He is SO hot!" a girl exclaimed to her friends as she pointed at Luffy. The captain groaned. He looked over at the girls, and they all squealed in unison.

"Oh my god! He looked at me!" the first girl exclaimed.

"No, he looked at me! I'm the better looking!" another girl spoke.

"No, me! You two are hussies!" Luffy slowly inched away from the impending catfight, only to back right into a pair of soft _somethings_. Luffy felt his horror grow as he looked up into the face of an amused woman.

"Well, you're certainly forward." She peered in as Luffy scrambled backwards. "Hmmm… and not too shabby-looking either." She nodded. "You'll do." She lunged at him as he screamed and ran away. Almost immediately, the large group of girls that had squealed at him had joined in the chase. Slowly, the horde behind him grew as Luffy cried tears of pure and unadulterated fear.

"SANJIIIIII! ZOROOOOOO! HELP MEEEEEEE!" he screamed. Almost immediately, his two greatest fighters were beside him.

"Luffy! What the hell is going on here!" Zoro yelled over the din of the stomping feet.

"They're like spawn from hell! They just won't give up!" he yelled back.

"Give up what, Luffy!" Zoro yelled.

"LUFFY-KUUUUUUUUN!" the horde screamed. Sanji attempted a flying kick at Luffy's head, only to fall short.

"You shit-captain! What the hell did you do to them!"

"I don't know! They just all started chasing me when I put on these clothes!" he replied.

"LUFFY-KUN! WILL YOU DANCE WITH ME!" one of them shouted.

"LUFFY-KUUUN! WILL YOU KISS ME!" another shouted.

"LUFFY-KUUUUUN! WILL YOU MARRY ME!" an extremely devoted fan girl shouted. Luffy screamed a girlish scream at that outburst. Sanji glared daggers at Luffy.

"You shit-captain! What the hell did you do to them!"

"DO SOMETHING! SAVE MEEEEE!" Luffy screamed, his captain's cloak flapping madly behind him. Sanji sighed.

"All right. But you owe me big." he whirled around, hearts in his eyes. "MELLORINE! COME TO ME, BY BEAUTIES! I SHALL LOVE YOU UNTIL THE DAY I DIE!"

"LUFFY-KUUUUUUUUN!" they shouted as they trampled the love cook under their feet without a second thought. Zoro helped the heartbroken blonde to his feet.

"Looks like you're not as popular with the ladies as captain is, ero-cook." A gray cloud immediately formed and hovered over his head as he huddled in to himself, murmuring nonsensical words that only he understood. Zoro pulled him to his feet, heading towards the bar. "What you need is to get drunk. That'll help with the pain."

None of this was helping Luffy as he was continually hounded by the pack of women. "GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Gold Roger rolled around on the 'floor' laughing his ass off.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" he screamed as he continued to run. He spotted a blue-skinned figure in front of him.

"ARLONG! SAVE MEEEEEEE!" the leader of the mermen looked up, saw the horde of women, and nodded. He stepped out into the road. Luffy immediately hid behind him, poking his head out occasionally from his shoulder like a scared child peeking over the shoulder of a parent at a scary large dog. The pack of women slid to a screeching stop a few feet away from the merman. Arlong grinned a toothy grin.

"Boo."

"GAAAAAAHHHHH!" the women screamed as they all scampered away with the same speed that they chased Luffy. Arlong laughed as Luffy blew out a sigh of relief. He stepped out from Arlong's shadow.

"Thank you, Arlong."

"It was nothing, my liege." Arlong did a small bow. "You seemed to need help. I'm guessing I was right."

"You have no idea." Luffy wiped the sweat off his brow. "I'm just amazed at how many there were." Arlong laughed.

"Shahahahahaha! I'm just amazed you didn't take advantage!" Luffy glared at him. Arlong held up his studded hands. "Hey, if I had that many mermaids chasing me down, I would tap that!" Luffy sighed.

"That wouldn't feel right. I don't even know them, for Kronos' sake!" Arlong nodded, almost sympathetic. The two enjoyed the silence before Arlong spoke.

"I'm sorry." Luffy shrugged.

"Hey, don't apologize to me. It's Nami that needs to hear that." the merman sighed.

"Yeah, but I doubt she'd even listen to me."

"Then you've gotta earn her trust. If she doesn't believe you're sincere, then prove to her that you're sincere. How, I don't know." Luffy grinned. "She does love money, though. And tangerines." Arlong chuckled softly. Luffy walked back towards the village. "Think about that, Arlong. Think about that for a while." And Arlong did think, as Luffy walked away.

"That was a good thing you did, Luffy." Gold Roger thought-spoke. Luffy's smile melted off his face.

"I trust him no further than I can throw him. if he puts one toe out of line, he's gone. and it'll be on your head." Roger nodded.

"I admire your self-control about this situation. Not very many people can swallow their personal feelings about someone they hate." Luffy shrugged.

"you wouldn't give me a choice in the matter, so why bother fighting it?" He strolled back into the festivities, looking around anxiously for any stalking women. "God, I'm never going to get over this paranoia." Gold Roger cackled. The captain of the Straw Hat pirates stopped at a vendor and grabbed a chunk of meat on the bone, flicking a gold coin at the seller. He bit a huge chunk out. "I am going back to the ship." Luffy turned to head for the harbor as a voice called out to him.

"Luffy…" Nami said as said man walked past her. Luffy turned his head to her and nearly choked on the meat he was chewing.

'Holy shit! Where did she get THAT!' Luffy thought to himself as he stared at the ball gown that his navigator was wearing. Gold Roger whistled appreciatively.

"Daaaaaaaaamn, boy. You've got one fiiiiine navigator." His mentor's words set off a twinge in his stomach that Luffy ignored as he continued to stare at the dress.

The cloth was an airy blue, almost white, cut high at the legs and low at the chest for what Nami herself would have called 'maximum impact', with a long trail ending at her calves. It was an extremely revealing and sultry outfit that had many of the surrounding men staring, and subsequently slapped by their girlfriends. Luffy swallowed the meat he was chewing with an audible gulp. He shook his head to clear his mind. "you're looking beautiful tonight, Nami. Don't let Sanji see you in that, though. He might die from blood loss. We still need him."

Nami giggled lightly. "thank you. You don't look too bad yourself. Why aren't you joining in? you're our savior." She gestured to the throngs of people dancing in the street. Luffy smiled and shook his head.

"no. they don't want me. I saved the life of their greatest enemy. They wouldn't want me in there. I'm happy just watching them be so happy." Nami bit her lip as Luffy finished talking.

"Luffy… why did you save Arlong? He's serving you now, for some reason, but…" Luffy turned and looked at her.

"Nami…" he chuckled. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." Nami stared.

"try me." Luffy sighed.

"not yet, Nami. Not yet." Nami opened her mouth to protest. "I will tell you everything. I will tell all of you, eventually. Just know that Arlong would stop breathing if I told him to." Nami was silent. "you decide if you believe me or not." Luffy looked up at the scaffolding, where Sogeking had just been kicked off by a band of musicians, who then began to play. Nami held out her hand.

"Want to dance?" Luffy froze. He slowly started inching away.

"Err, I, uh, I would love to. But I don't feel like it, so I am going to my ship and be there for the remainder of the night." He says turning and starting to walk away leaving Nami with a trembling lower lip and a broken heart.

"Luffy can I join you and see your ship?" Nami asks with a hopeful look. Luffy thinks it over.

"Sure Nami you can come see my ship. I can give you a tour of my ship if you'd as well." Luffy says looking at Nami.

"I would love that Luffy." Nami says walking up to Luffy and the two make their way to the harbor. The two haven't walked for five minutes and Nami has been staring at Luffy's hand contemplating of holding hands with him. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she is brought out of it as she feels a hand on hers. She looks to see Luffy's hand in hers and she starts to blush. They walk hand in hand to the Iowa.

The two arrive at the harbor and Nami is a taken back at the size of the ship. She can't help but stare at the three huge deck gun barrels that are at least 100 feet in length. She then notices that there are no sails.

"Luffy…where are the sails?" Nami asks confused. Luffy doesn't turn but answers.

"It's because my ship does not travel using wind. It uses a completely different way. I can show you once we get onboard."

"okay." Nami says following Luffy up the gangway. She is surprised to see crewmembers on board.

"Luffy who are these people?"

"Nami these the crewmembers of the Iowa. The Straw Hats." Luffy says as Nami becomes even more confused by that and so he elaborates.

"That is right. This crew is called the Straw Hat pirates as well as Sanji, Gin, Zoro, Kuro, Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku. Sanji and the others as well as Kaya and Merry are first officers of the ship. I run my ship like the marines because of how there is order which works if there is no order."

"I understand now. You copied the order and ranking system of the marines." Nami says clarifying that she understands.

"Yes that is correct Nami." Luffy shows her around the ship. He shows her his quarters and she is impressed with how nice all the other quarters are. Luffy starts for the door of his quarters when he notices Nami is not following. He stops and walks back up to name.

"Nami? What's wrong?" Luffy asks standing in front of her. She looks down at the ground.

"Hey Luffy….do you think we can dance in here? Privately?" Nami asks as she is blushing and making Luffy blush as well.

"uh..umm….sure. I believe that is fine." Luffy says and he sees that Nami smiles at hearing that. Luffy walks over to a record player and puts a record on which starts to play.

"may I have this dance?" Nami started giggling uncontrollably. She took his hand.

"Yes, I would like to have this dance."

They danced into the night.

After three records later Luffy and Nami some hoe made it into Luffy's living quarters which were more impressive since it was separate from the rest of his quarters. His living quarters had a small kitchen, a bookshelf with four shelves with books, and two bedrooms. They made it into his room as the record is still playing as it was one that had just started. Nami and Luffy stand in his room and Nami looks into his red eyes.

"Luffy there is something I want to talk about."

"Really? Like wh-" he starts but Nami pushes her lips onto his. Luffy's eyes shot open as his heart started racing. He stood there for a second before he slowly pulled her into a warm embrace before closing his eyes. After a moment, she pulled away with a smile.

"I've wanted to do that the moment you said you'd defeat Arlong." She said. Luffy couldn't hide the blush coming to his face as he held Nami close to him.

"Really?" Luffy asked as he felt his insides warm up. She nodded with a smile before he leaned over and kissed her back. Nami closed her eyes as they both held each other. Luffy felt something burn inside him as his mind seemed to slowly stop functioning. He felt Nami's tongue against his lips, asking for entrance. He didn't know what was happening, but everything felt right as he opened his mouth. He felt her tongue touch his tongue before they started to battle for dominance. It took some doing, but he eventually won as his tongue now explored every last bit of her mouth. They broke away for air as they looked into each other's eyes, both panting before a smile tugged at both of their lips. Nami's smile however showed that she knew something. "What?"

"Don't think I didn't notice you eyeing me like candy Luffy." she said. Luffy's eyes widened a bit before he sighed in defeat.

"Was it wrong to do that?" he asked. Nami couldn't help but laugh.

"No, you idiot." she said as she kissed him again which he returned. Nami started to walk forward while kissing him. The back of his knee hit his bed and he fell backwards with her going with him. He landed on the bed with her on top as they continue to make-out.

He felt his heart beat even faster when they were kissing again, which soon turned into a passionate kiss as they embraced each other. Their tongues danced as they slowly laid on the bed, with Nami over Luffy. Luffy placed his hat onto the nearby table before holding Nami again. They stopped for air while Nami began to unbutton Luffy's shirt.

"Nami?" Luffy said as he looked up at her. "What are you-"

"Shh." she said as she placed a finger on his lips. "You'll see." She then began to undo the buttons again. After she was done, she slipped his shirt off before dropping it off the side of the bed. She stared down at him, examining his body with a smile.

"What?" Luffy asked as he looked up at her with a slight blush. She only shook her head.

"Nothing." she said before she looked back at him. "It's just that you look so scrawny, yet you're strong enough to beat Arlong so easily." she said as she glided her fingertips over his chest. Luffy shuddered from the touch as his eyes closed, which caused a small smile to grace Nami's lips. "Like it?"

"Yeah." he said in a quiet whisper, not realizing where his hand was going.

"Luffy." Nami said as she stopped her hands. Luffy opened his eyes to see Nami's eye shadowed by her bangs. He looked a little confused before she spoke up. "Your hand." Luffy then looked at his right hand, which was on her hip.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked.

"Your other hand." she said.

"My other...hand?" he said before his eyes opened further, now seeing that his left hand was on her butt. "Oh...ehh." Luffy said as he looked back at Nami, slowly not liking the silence as he started to sweat before he took his hands away from her. "Oops?" he said, hoping she wouldn't beat him until he was a bloody mess. He stared up in fear before Nami smiled.

"Tonight." she said.

"Huh?" Luffy asked, now trully baffled that she wasn't killing him. She looked at him, still smiling with a small blush on her face.

"Just for tonight, it's okay." she said. It took a moment for her words to sink in before he slowly placed his hand back on her ass, which caused her to moan and blush even more. Luffy blushed as well as he slowly placed his other hand on her ass.

"It's soft Nami." he said as he looked back up at her, a smile on his face. Nami giggled at that before she moaned loudly when he gave her butt a tiny squeeze. "Oh what's this?" he asked with a little smirk.

"N-Nothing." she said before she sat back up on top of him. "But if you thought that was soft," she said as she slowly lifted her dress off. "Then these will be much softer." She then pull her dress all the way off, revealing a white bra and panties underneath as she dropped her dress next to the bed. "Go ahead." she said. Luffy blushed as he slowly reached up to her breasts, but stopped just before touching them.

"Hmm?" Nami said as she looked at him.

"You're not gonna charge me a ridiculous amount of money, are you?" Luffy asked smirking, earning him a hard slap to the face. "Ow."

"Only if you ask that again." Nami said, annoyed that he ask something like that. She sighed before calming down as Luffy rubbed his cheek, then brought his hand up to her breasts. He gently placed his hand on her left breast, earning another moan from Nami. He blushed immensly as his hand cupped her breast before moving it around in tiny circles, causing Nami to moan shudder.

"They are softer." he said as he brought his other hand up, cupping both breasts. Nami closed her eyes as she held her back as Luffy continued to fondle her breasts. He then gave them a light squeeze, earning a cry of pleasure from Nami. He smiled before he removed his hands and sat up.

"Luffy? What are y-whoa!" Nami said before Luffy grabbed her and spun them both around so that she was lying down on the bed. He smiled down at her with his usual 'shishishishi' laugh before he grabbed her boobs again. Nami blushed again before grabbing Luffy's hands.

"Hold on." she said before she sat up a bit and reach behind her back. Luffy looked with a blank stare as he heard something snap behind her. His eyes widened when her bra fell off, leaving him with a full view of her boobs. She smiled as she placed her bra next to her dress. "That's better."

"Wow!" Luffy said, unable to look away as his hands cupped her breasts once again. This time though, the feeling of direct skin sent both of their senses into overdrive. His hands slowly squeezed as the silky feeling of her breasts enticed him to no end, while Nami swore she felt an electric current running though her. Without thinking, he brought his head closer before he had the lower half of his face sinking into her cleavage. He looked up into her eyes before they both smiled.

"Comfy?" she asked as she put her arms around head, making him sink a bit further.

"Very." Luffy said before he pulled his head up a bit. He looked at her breasts before a smile came to his lips.

"What are you-Kyaaa!" she said as Luffy flicked one of her nipples with his tongue. She moaned in pleasure as he kept licking her nipple before taking it into his mouth. Nami cried out in pleasure as Luffy licked, sucked, and gently bit her nipple before removing his lips, only to do the same to her other breast. "Luffy...that's...driving me crazy." she said as she tried to catch her breath. He sat back up with a smile until his eyes caught something.

"Hey, your tattoo is different." Luffy said as he saw Nami's new tattoo.

"Yeah." she said through her heavy breathing. "I had it changed. You like it?"  
"Yeah." he said as he brought his hand up to it to gently trace it with his fingers. "It's 1,000 times better than that Arlong one." He bent down and kissed her again as his hands went back to her breasts, smiling as her tongue was feeling around inside his mouth this time. She pulled back with a smile, confusing Luffy. "What?"

"Someone's excited." she said, looking down at Luffy's pants. He looked down as well to notice the bulge in his shorts.

Nami gently pushed him off of her. She sat up and reached down to Luffy's pants.

"What are you doing Nami?" he asked knowing what she was thinking and planning.

"Getting to the fun part." she said without even looking at him. She slowly undid his pants after fighting his belt before sliding them off, but suddenly stopped when she saw his erect member. "That's...wha?" she said, unable to understand how he could be so big. Luffy looked to see his penis had grown to 9 inches.

Nami was getting over her shock a bit as a smile came to her lips."Close your eyes." she said.

"Huh?"

"Just do it, and don't open them. It's a surprise." she said, giving him no chance to argue. Luffy laid back down and closed his eyes, not know what Nami was planning. He got his answer though when he felt something touch the tip and he gripped the bed sheets.

'What was that?! Don't tell me. She didn't?!' he asked mentally. He wanted to open his eyes, but kept them closed out of fear of what Nami might do. Then, he felt something completely cover his tip of his penis. He then felt Nami slowly took his member into her mouth, keeping herself from gagging. She then began to bob her head up and down while making slurping sounds. It was driving Luffy insane as his mind tried to wrap around what was happening. It was a lost cause as he felt his mind slip at how amazing it felt. He felt her go faster before he felt something strange well up inside him.

"Nami. I feel...something coming." he managed to say. Nami only went faster before Luffy lost it completely and felt something come out of his member and into her mouth. He laid there as Nami drink whatever it was until it stopped. He couldn't describe how amazing that felt as Nami slowly removed him from her mouth.

"You can open your eyes now Luffy." Nami said. Luffy slowly opened his eyes, clearly still in a daze.

"That...was...incredible." he said in a daze. Nami gave him a sexy grin.

"Glad you liked it." she said before she began to remove her panties. "My turn."

"Huh?" Luffy asked as Nami slid off her panties before laying next to Luffy.

"You'll figure it out." she said as she lay before him completely naked. Luffy blushed as he stared at her from head to toe, stopping at her womanhood.

"Oh." Luffy said, his instincts kicking in before he moved his head between her legs. "Like this?"

"Yes." Nami said as moved her legs apart for him to see. Luffy looked to see it glistening as he reached up and traced his finger around her sex, earning a pleasured moan from Nami before sticking his finger inside. "Ahhh." Nami cried out in pleasure as Luffy looked at his coated finger. Luffy licked the substance, instantly finding it tasty before he leaned down and licked Nami. "Luffy." Nami moaned as Luffy pressed his lips against her pussy as he began to eat her out. She bit her thumb to keep from screaming out as Luffy's tongue kept going in and out. She closed her legs around Luffy's head as she felt heat build up inside her. "Luffy...I'm going to-Ahhhh!" Nami said as she arched her back. Juices began to flow out of her while Luffy did his best to get every drop. After she was done, Luffy lapped up what was left before looking up at Nami. Nami looked back at him with a smile.

"You taste great Nami." Luffy said with a blush and a grin. Nami's face went red as she tried to catch her breath.

"Luffy." Nami said as she looked him straight in the eye. "Take me."

"Take...you?" Luffy said said with a smirk.

He spread her legs apart. He fully removed his pants as he got into position. He slowly placed the tip into her, earning a moan before he went further until he felt a barrier inside her. "It stopped."

"You...push through." Nami said as she braced herself. Luffy slowly kept going until he broke through, making Nami wince a little as blood started to slowly trickle out of her.

"Nami." Luffy said in worry.

"It's okay Luffy." Nami said as she gave him a calm smile. "That's supposed to happen on the first time." Luffy slowly kept pushing through. Soon, all of him was inside her. He slowly pulled out before going back in, earning a pleasured yelp from Nami.

"Keep going...just like that." Nami said. Luffy smiled before he slowly got an even rhythm going, sending both of them into a state of pure bliss. Luffy looked down at Nami as a sheen of sweat formed on her skin, which glistened in the moonlight from the window. Nami couldn't stop the moans from escaping her as Luffy sped up a little.

"You're tight in there Nami." Luffy said as he kept drilling Nami. His heart was beating so fast.

"Faster Luffy." Nami moaned. Luffy did so, causing her to scream in pleasure. He kept pounding her until that feeling returned.

"Nami...I feel it again."

Nami felt another orgasm coming as well. Luffy kept going until he hit a certain spot, sending Nami over the edge as she screamed out Luffy's name.

Luffy felt the walls close around him and he released his load shooting up into Nami.

Both then collapsed from exhaustion as they laid there for awhile trying to catch their breaths. Finally, Luffy rolled the two to where Nami was resting on his chest. He had an arm wrapped around Nami's waist and with the other he grabs the covers to his bed and pulls them over the two. He kisses Nami and she returns it back.

"I love you Nami." Luffy says shocking Nami for she was happy since Luffy felt the same about her.

"I Love you too Luffy." Nami says as she kisses him again.

"So Nami what is your answer?" Luffy asks looking into her eyes.

"My answer is yes. I will join your crew Luffy." She says smiling.

"That's good to hear my lovely navigator." Luffy says making her blush as she smiles. The two drift off to the land of dreams feeling incredibly great.


End file.
